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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26319313">P-Day 2: Commanders</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siddell/pseuds/Siddell'>Siddell</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>P-Day [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Real World, Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 11:41:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>28,095</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26319313</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siddell/pseuds/Siddell</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The worlds of humans and Pokémon collide! Laura's adventure in this new reality continues. But as new, more dangerous enemies close in, Laura needs more than just her Mudkip, Marshall. She will have to find stronger allies to help her against this new threat...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>P-Day [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1885267</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Part 2 of my P-Day series. While it is not absolutely necessarry to have read part 1, I do highly recommend it. You can find it through my profile. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy it!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>‘Alright, that’s the last one.’ The mover put the final box on the ground. Laura put her signature on the form and looked through the room. Her new place wasn’t big: one bedroom and one other room that was a living room/dining room combination. The kitchen was just a small stove, a mini-fridge and a microwave oven. The entire kitchen was only three meters long. Her small bathroom consisted of a toilet, a showerhead without anything around it and a small sink. The mover nodded to her and left without saying anything else. Tired, Laura fell down on the couch. She had no right to complain, she thought. Most students that move out of their parents’ house end up in even smaller spaces that they usually even had to share.<br/>
‘Well, that took you long enough.’ Marshall pushed his head through the box that was sitting next to Laura. The girl was so startled that she fell of the couch. Terry emerged from another box, and Skye was already sitting on the windowsill, waiting for somebody to open the window.<br/>
‘You really have to stop doing that!’ Laura yelled angrily, as she walked to the window to let Skye in.<br/>
‘You’re in a bad mood today,’ Marshall unhelpfully remarked.<br/>
‘Well what did you expect?’ Laura asked, even more angry than before. It had been a stressful day, and the remark from the little blue Pokémon did not land well with her. ‘You forced me to move out! I had a whole plan for that, and you ruined it all.’<br/>
Since she had visited Feldspar City two months ago, Laura hadn’t been left alone for a single moment. Marshall came visit her every now and then to see how things were going. Terry visited more often, and usually stayed longer too. He resembled a stuffed animal enough to not draw attention to him in the house. Skye had made a nest for herself in the area – with the specific mention that this was far below her and that she was making serious sacrifices for this mission. This nest allowed her to almost always be near Laura. The Pokémon looked so much like a regular bird that she didn’t stand out. Even though the Pokémon said they were there to protect Laura, she mostly felt that they were there to keep track of her. The Pokémon, and Marshall in particular, did not like it when she left the house, even if it was only for fifteen minutes, and they always wanted to know where she was. The one time when Laura didn’t check in with her guardians to go away with her family for a day, she found a very angry Marshall waiting for her at home. Skye and Terry were a little more patient, but they clearly preferred to be able to find Laura at all times too.<br/>
When Laura pointed out to the Pokémon that they couldn’t always visit her because of how close her family was – they ran the risk of exposing the entire Pokémon civilization when her mother would simply wander in at the wrong time – Marshall dryly replied that she then had to move out. Laura quickly found out that the Mudkip wasn’t joking: within a week she found herself twenty thousand euros richer, and Skye had already started apartment hunting. Her family wasn’t happy with the sudden change of plans, but they supported her as always.<br/>
‘This isn’t that bad,’ Terry said soothing. He seemed to be the only one that actually cared about how Laura felt among all of this.<br/>
‘And, now we can talk to you every moment of every day,’ Marshall added, completely oblivious. ‘We don’t have to worry about other people.’ Laura smiled sarcastically to the Pokémon. She wasn’t a violent person, but the thought of throwing Marshall out of the window suddenly was very appealing.<br/>
‘Is there anything else you want, except scare me and rub salt in my wounds?’<br/>
‘Absolutely not,’ Terry said with a kind smile. ‘Today, we’re only here to see how you’re doing. We just wanted to see the apartment, see how you were managing and ensure you that you don’t have a mission today. I’m serious,’ he said, seeing the surprised look on Laura’s face, ‘tonight, you have the evening off.’<br/>
After returning from Feldspar, the Pokémon had been sending her Poké Balls to break. Because she couldn’t just smash dozens of Poké Balls in her bedroom, Marshall had found a shed on the outskirts of town where nobody would care to look. The result was that Laura had to cycle for a good ten kilometers every day just to break a few Poké Balls. The task had seemed noble and exciting at first, but Laura soon started to hate it. It was tedious, repetitive, and she often wouldn’t even see the Pokémon that was connected to the ball. And the worst part was that she did this in her own familiar environment. She hadn’t gone underground again, she hadn’t met any new Pokémon, and she hadn’t gone back to Feldspar. She missed the new, titillating aspect of her assignment.<br/>
‘Enjoy your free evening,’ Marshall said. ‘Go unpack, decorate your new house, do whatever you want. It might be fun to invite your boyfriend over.’ Laura brightened up at that prospect. Marshall’s assignments and Skye’s checkups had made that she hadn’t seen her boyfriend a lot these past few weeks.<br/>
Much to her surprise, Skye also seemed delighted. ‘Oh, I can just see it,’ the small bird said in an excited voice. ‘The place is still chaotic, but you two are together, just the two of you. Go light some candles, to set the mood. Maybe clear up the area around the couch a bit too. Oh, and I don’t know what the mating call of humans sounds like, but ours goes a little like…’<br/>
‘Skye!’ Terry yelled out. ‘That’s enough of that!’<br/>
‘What’s gotten into her?’ Laura asked. She unknowingly had started blushing a bit. Terry rolled his eyes. ‘She met a Pidgey a few days ago, and ever since then she has been all romantic and such.’ Laura chuckled. No doubt her friends had talked about her the same way when her relationship with Henry had just started.<br/>
‘Don’t be so sarcastic Terry,’ Skye said perkily. ‘I’m just giving her relationship advice, but you wouldn’t understand the first thing about that. Just because you are so inexperienced in love, does not mean that we should not be able to talk about it. You know, it really wouldn’t hurt you if you would be a little more open to the idea of… Hey!’ Marshall has clamped his teeth in the Starly’s tail and pulled her towards the door. ‘A romantic dinner always works too!’ Skye hastily shouted before Marshall dragged her outside. Terry looked at his two friends while shaking his head. Then he turned to Laura.<br/>
‘Do you think you’ll be okay?’<br/>
‘Yeah… probably. It’ll take some getting used to, but it wouldn’t be the first time you guys drastically altered my life.’ She added a watery and insincere smile to that. ‘I mean, I had to live on my own at some point anyway right? Might as well do that as quick as possible.’<br/>
Terry nodded contently. ‘Well, if there is anything, anything at all, if you need our help or just want to talk, just call out one of our names. Even if we’re not nearby, there will probably be a different Pokémon that can hear it and warn us.’ Skye meanwhile flew in front of the window again.<br/>
‘Right, that’s my cue to leave I think,’ Terry said. ‘Enjoy your night off, and have fun.’ With a gesture that almost seemed like a salute, the little bear left the room. For a brief moment Laura wondered how the Pokémon could walk through the hallway of the apartment building without anybody else noticing them. She shrugged: Marshall had been watching her for well over a year without her being aware of it. The Pokémon were more than capable of taking care of themselves.<br/>
Filled with excitement, she took out her phone and put in the number of her boyfriend. She sighed happily as she waited for Henry to pick up. This night was long overdue.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>   ‘Thank you guys for making it so quickly.’<br/>
‘What’s this about Reese?’ Tyler asked.<br/>
‘Yeah, you sounded pretty rattled on the phone,’ Jason added. Reese had called them less than an hour ago to meet him immediately at this street corner, without explaining what the rush was.<br/>
‘It’s about Tyson. I went by his work today, and they told me they hadn’t seen him in weeks. They tried to call him, but they got no response.’<br/>
‘That’s not like him at all…’ Jason said, slightly worried. ‘I know he had been cancelling on a lot of plans lately, but I figured he must have had his reasons.’<br/>
‘Well, whatever those reasons are, they’re getting worse,’ Reese said. ‘I tried calling him today and he didn’t pick up either. And he doesn’t seem to be receiving messages through social media either.’<br/>
‘So what do you suggest?’ Tyler asked.<br/>
‘I say we go by his house right now to see what is going on. I’m getting worried guys. This doesn’t add up.’</p>
<p>Tyson opened the door himself. His friends unsuccessfully tried to hide their surprise at his bewildered and neglected appearance. His hair was even more messy than usual, he clearly hadn’t shaved in a while and it looked as if he had been up for several days. His clothes were dirty and draped around his body in an uncaring way.<br/>
‘Hi Tyson,’ Reese said carefully. ‘Can we come in for a moment?’ Tyson looked outside with fear in his eyes, but then quickly let his friends in. As soon as they entered, he locked the door behind them and walked to the living room.<br/>
‘We went by your own place, but you weren’t there, so we figured we’d try your parents’ house. Where is your family?’ Tyler asked. He noticed all the blinds and curtains were closed, even though it was the middle of the day.<br/>
‘They’re on holiday abroad for a few weeks,’ Tyson replied distantly. ‘Why are you here? Were you followed?’<br/>
‘No, we weren’t followed,’ Jason said in a soothing voice. Their worries were justified: something was clearly wrong with Tyson. ‘We are just here to see how you are doing.’<br/>
‘I’m fine,’ Tyson said. He started picking up some papers from the ground. The guys saw that the papers were all scribbled full with sloppy and hasty notes. Tyson didn’t stop moving for a single moment, except to occasionally look suspiciously out the window as if he was expecting somebody to arrive.<br/>
‘I don’t expect you guys to understand, but I’m doing better than ever. I can finally see it, I have found the truth!’<br/>
‘Alright Tyson, we need to talk,’ Jason said.<br/>
‘Yeah man, we’re worried about you,’ Reese added.<br/>
‘You don’t have to worry, I’m fine!’ Tyson started walking around again, still picking up papers. Tyler grabbed his arm and pushed him down on a chair.<br/>
‘You are not fine. Look at yourself man! You haven’t been outside in weeks, you look like crap, we haven’t heard from you in almost a month, and… when was the last time you took a shower?’<br/>
Tyson shook his head, smiling at his friends. ‘You don’t see it. I should have known.’ He pushed his papers together and walked towards the staircase. ‘Come, you will understand in just a moment.’ He ran up the stairs. Quickly his friends followed him, not sure what to expect. Tyson opened a door and stood next to it with a proud look on his face. His friends on the other hand stared into the room with utter surprise.<br/>
‘Tyson…’ Reese stammered. ‘You’ve got issues man.’</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kirilov opened a new bottle of whiskey. It didn’t taste as good as the last one, but at this point he didn’t really care about that anymore. The past few weeks hadn’t been easy. His men needed him harder than ever before, and his conscience was screaming louder than he liked.<br/>
Rumors spread quickly on the small ship. Within a day, everybody knew what had happened to Yuri when he tried to open the crate. Even though the coxswain’s idea to leave the crate behind had seemed fine at first, Kirilov quickly realized they couldn’t do that.<br/>
‘We don’t have a choice captain,’ the coxswain had said. ‘If this monster’ – the men had started calling it a monster, since the maw that had come out of the crate did not resemble anything familiar – ‘if this monster stays any longer on this ship, it puts everybody in grave danger. Yuri got out without too much problems, but what’s to say it won’t go horribly wrong next time?’<br/>
‘If we leave the crate behind at the next harbor, we endanger an entire village,’ Kirilov had replied. ‘They would open it at some point, I can guarantee that. We don’t know how strong or dangerous this monster is, but I do know that innocent people will die because of it, and only because we didn’t have the guts to actually do something about it. This region is too populated, we can’t just leave it around here.’<br/>
‘But then what do we do?’ the boatswain had asked. ‘We clearly can’t deliver it to the people that are supposed to receive it.’<br/>
‘Very true,’ Kirilov mumbled. ‘We work for evil men.’<br/>
‘No we don’t,’ Yuri had said. ‘We don’t work for them. We work for you. Whatever you say, we will follow you, and we will all accept the consequences.’ The rest of the crew had mumbled agreeing after his words.<br/>
‘Well either way, we can’t deliver it,’ Kirilov continued. ‘We – and dozens other people like us – already have to fear for our lives. If our employers start using a monster like this…’ Kirilov didn’t dare to speak his thoughts. And judging by the faces of his crew, he didn’t have to.<br/>
‘Can’t we get the government or the military involved?’ a sailor had asked. Kirilov shook his head melancholically.  ‘They have made it abundantly clear that our little town is not important enough for them. And they probably wouldn’t believe us anyway. Meanwhile we’d still be stuck with this creature.’<br/>
‘I don’t want to be the one to say it,’ the boatswain said, ‘but it seems like we have only two options left: either we leave that beast here on our ship, or we take care of it ourselves.’ A deadly silence fell over the ship. Yuri carefully rubbed the painful spot on his arm. The wound had taken on an unhealthy purple color. Nobody really wanted to face the beast. Yuri was the stereotype of a sailor: big, strong, not easily impressed and not afraid of anything. And yet even he didn’t dare to come close to the crate anymore. Kirilov could easily guess the thoughts of his men: if this beast managed to scare Yuri, then what can I do against it?<br/>
A sudden noise came from the crate, as if the beast realized they were deciding over its faith. A few of the younger sailors recoiled out of fear. It sounded like the beast was pounding on the side of the crate. The older crewmen started laughing at their younger colleagues, but they had to swallow their laughter when the planks of the crate started splintering. With a loud noise, the first plank broke. Kirilov, the boatswain and the coxswain immediately jumped into action. The coxswain grabbed – much like when Yuri was attacked – the broken plank and swung at the head that was pushing through the hole. The hit took off some pieces of black fur, but the head didn’t withdraw back into the crate. The second swing from the coxswain had less success: the beast grabbed the plank with its maw and snapped it in two with just one bite.<br/>
For a moment, the three men didn’t know what to do. Their only weapon had just been bitten apart. At that moment, two sailors came running to them with a few pieces of meat. The coxswain started shouting that they had to get back, but Kirilov understood their intention. He grabbed one of the pieces of meat. It felt as cold as ice in his hands, no doubt it had been lying in their freezer. From a distance, he threw the piece of meat towards the maw, that was wildly biting away in the empty air around it. The heaving of the ship made him miss however, and the meat didn’t land in the maw, but hit the beast on the head.<br/>
With a loud wailing the beast withdrew. The maw disappeared into the crate again and the only thing remaining was howling and screaming. A few crewmen brought new wood for the fortification of the crate.<br/>
Kirilov turned around to his men. He knew he had to make a decision now, even if he himself didn’t really know what to do yet. From the corner of his eye, he saw one of the men take out a small flask and sip from it. Suddenly he had an idea.<br/>
That evening, Kirilov dropped a piece of meat drenched in alcohol into the crate.<br/>
‘I do hope this works,’ he whispered to the sailor that was helping him. he had sacrificed his best gin for this.<br/>
‘I’m sure it will captain,’ the young man answered. In doing so, he paid more attention to Kirilov than to the crate. Kirilov saw what was going to happen just in time and pulled the boy away from the crate. The jaws of the beast snapped in the air, right where only seconds before the boys hand had been. With a pale face, the boy carefully put the lid back on the chest and locked it up.<br/>
The sounds of the beast devouring the meat nauseated Kirilov. He had gotten used to the snapping and biting noises from the chest, it was all the beast did all day. But what made this sound so different, was that it could have been one of them just as well, lying there in that crate, being devoured by this monstrosity.<br/>
The alcohol worked like a charm. Within minutes, a soft, snoring sound came from the crate. A pleasant change of pace from the biting. At Kirilov’s sign, a group of crewmen came running to him and carefully lifted the crate. From the cabin, other crewmen came walking with in their arms the last few bits of meat – the beast had done quite a number on their meat supply – and some frozen vegetables.  The first group of crewmen lowered the crate in the now empty freezer. The freezer got secured with cables, ropes, chains and locks.<br/>
In the next few days, the men often heard furious sounds coming from the freezer, but they were less frequent and less energetic than when the chest was still placed on the deck.<br/>
After they had passed every harbor on their route, Kirilov gathered his men.<br/>
‘We have just entered Kazakhstan,’ he had said to them. They were all looking at him with anticipation, curious as to the final part of his plan. ‘By locking this monster in our freezer, we have gone in direct defiance of the Russian mafia. They will use their assets and contacts to track us down, but there isn’t much they can do outside of Russia. In two days, we will reach a point where this river runs dry. We will continue on foot and dump the crate somewhere on the steppe, far from any populated area. Nobody will find it there, and with any luck nature will solve our problem. After that, we will leave. To Europe, Australia, America, wherever we can go to start a new life. Contact your families to meet you at wherever you will go. I have set aside enough money to get you all going. It isn’t much, but it’ll be enough to get you started.’<br/>
The men looked at their captain. They all realized the weight of his words. And yet nobody said anything. Nobody opposed him, nobody backed out. One of them saluted, and quickly the entire crew followed his example. The dedication of his people moved Kirilov. He might have missed out on the navy, but he couldn’t imagine finding such comradery anywhere else than here.<br/>
The short trip across the steppe was rough, but Kirilov hadn’t expected anything else. Yuri had stayed behind with three others at the ship. He couldn’t help with carrying the freezer anyway because of his injured arm. After a full day’s walk, Kirilov and his men found a grotto that they could leave the freezer in. The trip back didn’t take as long, and after half a day they had gotten back to the ship. There Kirilov received the notice that Yuri was getting worse. The wound had gotten infected and he needed medical help, fast.<br/>
And now, a month later, Kirilov was waiting in a small town in Kazakhstan, with his trusted bottle of whiskey. Yuri was hospitalized in a free clinic to recover. The boatswain and coxswain insisted they’d stay with Kirilov. Once Yuri was able to travel again, they’d find a place where they could start over.<br/>
Kirilov laughed, but it was a cold laugh. There would be no “starting over” for him. He had already started over once before, which resulted in him becoming a smuggler for the Russian mafia. In the West, nobody was looking for a 50-year old Russian captain that carried small amounts of cargo. Everything went by massive container ships or airplanes. There would be no work for him in the harbors. The same went for the other two officers. They were too old to get hired again in Europe or America. Most crewmen were young enough, they could still be of use or even learn an entire new profession. But for the three older sailors, this was the end of the line. Kirilov had used all his savings to give his men the opportunity to get out. There was nothing left for him. the boatswain had found somebody willing to take over the ship, but that would be just enough to get the four men out of Kazakhstan. After that, the real struggle would begin.<br/>
His conscience started screaming again. He should have just killed the monster when he had the chance. Somebody else might now find the freezer and open it. In his mind, Kirilov went over all the doom scenarios. None of them seemed good for him. He tightly closed his eyes and shook his head. The alcohol was starting to affect his thoughts.<br/>
The coxswain entered the room. ‘They have released Yuri from the hospital. He can travel again.’ Kirilov forced himself to smile and staggered up from his chair. The coxswain helped him through the hallway. At the end of it, Kirilov stopped and looked at his friend.<br/>
‘We did the right thing, didn’t we?’<br/>
The coxswain looked at him in surprise. ‘Captain, over the past few days we have received word that all our men have safely reached other countries. You refused to give that monster to the mafia and in doing so, have prevented a dangerous weapon to fall into the hands of evil men. You have not only given the boys a chance to start a new life, you have also made sure they can sleep soundly. So yes, you have done the right thing.’</p>
<p>
  <em>Normal. A relative word full of contradictions. People want to be famous or special, abnormal. But at the same time, everybody wants to be able to calmly live the life they want. Abnormality is seen as something bad. Who deviates from what is perceived as normal will be left out of social circles. What is normal will differ per country, per ethnic group, even per house. Social pressure to be “normal” can drive a person insane.</em>
</p><p>
  <em></em>
</p>
<p>
  <em></em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Electricity. A vital aspect of the modern world. Electricity provides light in the houses, it powers modes of transportation. Electricity makes sure the internet keeps running. The internet connects people. It allows for photos, videos and information to be shared instantly from anywhere in the world. But electricity can destroy all of this too. Too much electricity is lethal. A lightning bolt can kill people instantly, set houses on fire or short-circuit any device.  A concentrated jolt of electricity can wipe a computer clean. Without electricity, the world would collapse, but too much electricity can paralyze society one step at a time.</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Laura looked at the clock in surprise. Henry wasn’t supposed to arrive for another half hour, but the doorbell already rang. It wasn’t exactly her boyfriend’s style to arrive too early for… well for anything really. But oh well, if he was early, then what was the harm in that?<br/>
She quickly put out the stove, put a few things neatly on the table, tidied her clothes and walked to the door. With a kind smile on her face, she opened the door. Her smile disappeared immediately.<br/>
In front of her stood a man in a dark blue police uniform.<br/>
‘Miss Hill?’ he asked. Laura nodded. His voice was stern and commanding, as if he was used to everybody listening to him. The side-effects of police life, Laura thought.<br/>
‘My name is officer Jones. I want to ask you a few questions.’<br/>
‘About what?’<br/>
‘About all of this.’ The officer gestured to her new apartment. ‘You have received twenty thousand euros within a week, without being employed. That’s quite the achievement.’ Laura turned red as she quickly tried to think of a plausible explanation. The policeman looked at her triumphantly. ‘Right. That’s what I thought. We will be asking more questions at the station. Just come with me ma’am.’<br/>
Laura looked at the food she had prepared for tonight, at the table she so nicely made and at her fancy clothes, that she unpacked especially for the evening.<br/>
‘Could I maybe call somebody first?’ she asked. Henry wouldn’t like having to wait in front of a locked door.<br/>
‘Just come with me ma’am,’ Jones repeated, more forcefully this time. Laura sighed and walked with the policeman.</p>
<p>The interrogation room of the police station was pretty much what she expected. There was no big mirror on the wall that cops in a different room could look through, but other than that it was exactly like in the movies. Two other policemen were already waiting in the room when Laura and Jones entered.<br/>
‘Please sit down madam,’ one of the officers said. He too sounded stern and unfriendly. Laura sat down on the hard metal chair, scared of what might happen.<br/>
‘All communication has been cut,’ the other cop said to Jones. ‘The cameras are turned off and the microphones are removed. This case is completely up to you.’<br/>
Laura heard her phone ring in her purse. Jones held out his hand, and disappointed she handed him her phone.<br/>
‘Who is Henry?’ Jones asked.<br/>
‘My boyfriend,’ Laura answered. She wished he was here with her. She still hadn’t thought of an excuse, and Henry was good at finding ways out of difficult situations. He had frequently bluffed his way through things back when they were in high school, and every now and then he still showed off that talent.<br/>
‘Well, he lets you know that he isn’t gonna make it tonight.’ Jones turned the phone off and put it down on the table.<br/>
‘I’m gonna be honest with you Laura,’ Jones said. He suddenly sounded a lot less hostile. ‘I don’t really care where you got that money from. I had to tell you that back there because you never know who’s listening in.’ A sinister feeling crept up on Laura. She started getting the awful suspicion that Jones might know about Marshall.<br/>
‘You see,’ Jones continued. His voice had gotten a weird tone. He seemed to know exactly what was gonna happen next, and in his mind he had already won. ‘We know that for the past few weeks, you have been up to something. You’ve left your house at irregular moments, you’ve had little to no contact with your friends, and then suddenly you move out. We have a little wager going on here’ – at those words, the other two officers grinned – ‘and my theory is that somebody has been giving you assignments. Somebody that you never suspected.’<br/>
Laura had to try her hardest to keep her face under control. <em>That man knows everything!</em>, went through her mind. And yet she showed no emotion. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she said, a lot calmer than she expected. She now realized that she should have followed Terry’s advice: she should have called for one of the Pokémon, the second the policeman showed up at her door.<br/>
‘I think you do,’ Jones said with a frightening smile. One of the policemen took a laptop from a bag and put it on the table. On the screen appeared a video that was clearly made with a low-level cellphone camera. The images were unclear and blurry, and it was hard to recognize any shapes, but there was no doubt about what was happening in the video.<br/>
Laura saw a large, purple creature slaughtering people at an astounding speed on a large market square. Her jaw dropped in surprise. She couldn’t distinguish any details, but the creature doing the massacre looked a suspicious lot like a Pokémon.<br/>
‘How did you get this?’ she asked.<br/>
‘That does not matter,’ Jones replied. ‘What does matter, is that you are not shocked. The fact that a monster is killing twenty people doesn’t surprise you. You’re more surprised that I have this footage at all.’ He lowered himself to her level and looked her dead in the eyes. ‘You’ve just confessed.’<br/>
The two officers took out handcuffs and walked towards her. Laura desperately looked around. The only way out was through the door that they entered through, but the two cops were standing between her and the door. The room had one window, but Laura remembered going up in the elevator. A jump from that window would kill her. And she also noted that the officers were all armed. Escaping was impossible.<br/>
The door slammed open. Two men in black suits with raincoats over them walked confidently into the room.<br/>
‘That’s enough of that!’ the first one yelled. The two men took their badges out of their pockets. ‘My name is special agent Smith, this is special agent Miller. We are now in charge of this case. I kindly yet sternly ask you to leave the room right now, and let me and Miller take it from here.’<br/>
The two cops looked at each other and Jones hesitantly, but then walked towards the door. When the officers had left, Miller closed the door behind them and locked it. Jones looked at the special agents with a confused look on his face.<br/>
‘Not you, agent Jones,’ Smith said with an insincere smile. ‘We still need to know a thing or two that you might tell us.’<br/>
‘The girl hasn’t told me anything yet,’ Jones said. ‘I can’t give you anything on her yet.’<br/>
‘Who said anything about the girl?’ Smith asked. Jones opened his mouth again to ask another question, but Miller struck him down with one hard, well aimed punch to the neck. Laura screamed startled as the body fell down on the table with a loud bang.<br/>
‘What is happening!?’ she asked, half screaming. Then she looked at the unconscious body of Jones with disgust.<br/>
The policeman was gone. Instead, on the table laid a creature with long, red hair. The body was smaller than that of the policeman, the limbs shorter and thinner. Instead of fingers, it had red claws. The black police uniform had made way for deep black fur. The face was sharper than a human face, the eyes were more narrow and the waist was so thin that Laura could wrap a single arm all the way around it.<br/>
‘A Zoroark?’ Laura couldn’t believe what she was seeing. ‘I got arrested by a Zoroark?’ Then she looked at the two special agents that had saved her. ‘Who are you?’<br/>
‘Houdini!’ Miller yelled in no particular direction. This was the first time she heard him speak. ‘You can remove the illusion now.’ As Miller was talking, his body started changing. It went different than with the Zoroark. This was more like a curtain was being pulled off of something. Miller threw the raincoat aside, his suit had already disappeared.<br/>
‘A Lucario?’ Laura kept getting more confused by the second. Then she looked at Smith. ‘You work with a Lucario? Is this a new type of police unit? Or a special CIA program? You know what, it doesn’t matter. There are more people working with Pokémon!’<br/>
‘Not quite,’ Smith said. He too took of his raincoat and sat down on the table. Lucario meanwhile walked around the room, inspecting everything, and stopped at the window. By now, Smith had shrunk to the size of the laptop, which was still sitting on the table. His body changed even faster than Miller’s – or Lucario’s, Laura had trouble following everything – until there wasn’t anything left other than a shapeless pink goo with a cartoonish face on it. Laura had never thought that the sight of a real life Ditto would be so repulsive.<br/>
‘I know,’ the Ditto said. ‘I don’t like it either.’ In front of her eyes, he changed into a Grovyle. ‘I like this a lot more. This way I’m at least at eye level.’ He smiled and extended one of his clawed hands.<br/>
‘It’s a pleasure to meet you Laura. My name is Echo.’<br/>
‘Are you done?’ Lucario asked growling. ‘I’m trying to make contact with Houdini.’<br/>
‘You’ll have to forgive him,’ Echo said softly. ‘He’s a decent enough Pokémon, he’s just a little uptight during missions. If you would see him outside of our assignments, I’m sure you’d like him.’ It was all the same to Laura. She couldn’t be bothered to be upset or insulted. Her favorite Pokémon was standing in the same room as her! He was a little bit taller than she expected, almost the same size as her, but she now knew that was because of his age and experience. Not only was this Pokémon real and was he standing in the same room as her, he even saved her from a Zoroark.<br/>
‘Who is this “Houdini”?’ Laura whispered. The adrenaline started pumping. The fear she felt during Jones’s interrogation had made way for excitement. She was actually starting to like it.<br/>
‘He’s an Alakazam,’ Echo answered. ‘He made the illusion that made Lucario look like a human. He can also read minds, so he works as a central communication node for us. We haven’t been able to teach Lucario yet how to use a phone. Houdini reads our minds and then tells the rest of the team.’<br/>
‘There’s a whole team?’<br/>
Echo smiled at the girl. ‘What did you think? That the two of us would be enough?’<br/>
‘Houdini!’ Lucario yelled again. Laura was glad the room was soundproof, otherwise half the police corps would be busting through the door already. ‘Send Talon and the triplets up and tell Crusher to stand ready.’ Lucario opened the window and walked to the coat he dropped earlier.<br/>
‘Talon… you guys have a Talonflame?’ Laura asked. Echo shook his head. ‘He’s a Braviary actually. He once used the name Talon to confuse our adversaries, and he liked the sound of it, so he kept it.’ Lucario took a Magnemite from the pocket of the raincoat.<br/>
‘You’re up Bolt,’ he said. ‘You know what to do.’ A few beeps could be heard from the Magnemite as he hovered towards the laptop. With utter surprise Laura watched the Magnemite grow into a Magneton and then into a Magnezone, all in a matter of seconds. Bolt put his magnets against the laptop. The shoddy video stills quickly changed into a bright blue screen, after which smoke rose from the computer. Just as quickly as before, the Magnezone changed back into a Magnemite, and hovered around Lucario.<br/>
The gigantic head of a Braviary appeared in front of the opened window. From his back a Torchic, a Chimchar and a Tepig jumped into the room. The Braviary himself shrunk to a Rufflet and hopped inside through the window.<br/>
‘Hurry it up guys, you’re asking a lot of me here,’ Laura heard a voice say inside her head. Scared, she looked at Echo. ‘Was that…?’ Echo nodded. ‘Yeah, that was Houdini. Because Talon is rather large,’ Echo and Laura looked at the Rufflet, who was less than half a meter tall. ‘Correction, can be rather large, Houdini has to hide him with his illusions so the people can’t see him.’<br/>
‘And that takes its toll,’ Houdini said telepathically. Laura looked around the room that she was interrogated in not five minutes ago. Now it was filled with eight Pokémon, including the unconscious Zoroark.<br/>
‘Laura Hill,’ Lucario said, ‘let me introduce you to the Elite-Squad. Barring two members, of course. Nice to meet you.’ Laura was so overwhelmed that she didn’t know what to say.<br/>
‘H-hello?’ she said hesitantly. Lucario and Echo grinned to each other. Lucario was already starting to seem more friendly. ‘Thank you for saving me from that Zoroark. I do have some questions however…’ She got interrupted by a loud bang on the door and some muffled shouting from the other side.<br/>
‘Apparently we don’t have time for that now.’ Lucario immediately became the focused, determined team leader she saw earlier.<br/>
‘They must have found the real officer Jones,’ Echo determined. Lucario nodded thoughtfully.<br/>
‘Talon, triplets, you protect Laura. Make sure she gets to safety and then get back to me. Bolt, Echo, you’re with me. Houdini and Crusher will help us deliver the target,’ – he gestured to the Zoroark at the word “target”. ‘We will notify Marshall so he can wait for Laura at the rendezvous point. Remember Talon, we have Bolt with us. That means no air battles!’ The Rufflet nodded.<br/>
‘You’re ready Houdini?’ Echo asked. Laura didn’t hear the reply, but it must have been positive because Lucario yelled: ‘Give Crusher the green light.’<br/>
‘You might want to hold on to something,’ the Chimchar said. Unwittingly Laura grabbed the edge of the table. She saw the Pokémon around her bracing themselves too. Suddenly the entire building started shaking. The chair that Laura had sat on fell over, and if there had been any other furniture in the room, that would have fallen too. From outside Laura heard muffled screams and the faint noise of breaking glass. As the earthquake subsided, Laura noticed that the banging on the door had stopped.<br/>
‘Here we go,’ Lucario said. Talon jumped outside, where he immediately took on his larger form of a Braviary. The three small fire Pokémon jumped on his back, after which Lucario pushed Laura to the window as well.<br/>
‘Don’t worry,’ Echo said. ‘Houdini has some telekinetic tricks up his sleeve as well. If you fall, he will catch you.’ Carefully Laura climbed on the back of the gigantic bird. She seemed to remember from the games that a Braviary was one and a half meters long, but Talon must have been at least five meters.<br/>
When Laura first came to Feldspar City, she had ridden on the back of a Mightyena. She had found it to be difficult and terrifying, but it was nothing compared to flying on the back of Talon. Laura had to firmly grasp the gigantic bird’s feathers, which wasn’t easy considering Talon was constantly flapping his wings to stay in the air. The three fire Pokémon, which Lucario had indicated as the triplets, didn’t seem to struggle with it at all.<br/>
When Laura had gathered the courage to look down, she saw an Alakazam and a Golem standing at the side of the parking lot next to the building. That must be Houdini and Crusher, Laura thought. For a brief moment she had eye contact with the two Pokémon, then they disappeared, probably because of an illusion by Houdini.<br/>
When Talon turned around, Laura could see the window that she had escaped from. Echo had already jumped down. She wondered how she could still see Echo, while the people at the parking lot didn’t respond at all to the Grovyle landing next to them, rolling on the ground for a few meters and standing still next to them.<br/>
‘It’s because you are in the same illusion,’ Houdini said in her head. Laura got so jumped by the sensation that she almost forgot to hold on to Talon. ‘Don’t worry,’ Houdini’s voice said. ‘You will get used to this.’ Laura wasn’t exactly sure how happy she should be with that.<br/>
Lucario jumped out of the window too, with the Zoroark draped over his shoulder. Before he had even left the windowsill, he was already slowing down and slowly descended to the ground. Bolt went down just as casually as Lucario, but he didn’t require any of Houdini’s telekinesis.<br/>
Talon turned around again and flew away with a few strong blows of his wings.<br/>
‘Where will they go?’ Laura asked concerned.<br/>
‘That is not something for you to worry about,’ Talon responded. Laura noticed they were getting higher and higher. The air started getting colder and it became more difficult to breathe.<br/>
‘Why are we flying so high? Shouldn’t we be staying closer to the ground?’ The Chimchar shook his little head. ‘We’ve left Houdini’s range. He can’t protect us anymore, so Talon has to make sure we stay out of sight of the humans.’<br/>
Laura started to relax a little bit. Because of the size of Talon, Laura could only see the air around them and no ground whatsoever. Even though she was afraid of heights, she felt oddly comfortable. <em>My time spent with the Pokémon must have changed me more than I thought</em>, she said to herself.<br/>
‘So what should I call you?’ she asked the Chimchar. ‘Lucario referred to you as the triplets, but I assume you have individual names.’<br/>
‘The triplets was our stage name,’ the Tepig said, as he sat down next to her. ‘We used to be a circus act together. Back then, we went by the name “The Fiery Triplets”.’<br/>
‘That’s a terrible name,’ Laura said.<br/>
‘I know, we hate it too,’ the Torchic said. ‘There were so many better names they could have picked.’<br/>
‘Right, like… Like “The Firefighters”!’ Laura said. ‘You know, because your final evolutionary stages are all combinations of the fire and fighting types.’<br/>
The three Pokémon looked at each other in disbelief. ‘I cannot believe we never thought of that ourselves,’ the Chimchar said.<br/>
‘I mean, it’s right there,’ the Torchic mumbled.<br/>
‘Anyway…’ the Tepig continued. ‘When we joined the Elite-Squad, “the triplets” became an easy way to refer to all three of us at once, since we mostly did missions together anyway. Since we usually get new codenames for every mission, we at first didn’t really bother with personal names, and by the time we did pick our own names, “the triplets” just kinda stuck.’<br/>
‘Like most Pokémon, we never received a name at birth,’ the Torchic said. ‘We got to pick our own, so we went with last names of musicians. So if you want to address me, you can call me Bowie.’<br/>
‘I’m Dylan,’ the Chimchar said.<br/>
‘And my name is…’ the Tepig started.<br/>
‘Bacon!’ Bowie and Dylan interrupted him at the same time. A deep chuckling sound came from the beak of Talon, and Dylan and Bowie were crying with laughter.<br/>
‘Stop it!’ the Tepig yelled angrily. He looked at Laura annoyed. ‘They do this every time! They always make up these kind of names for me. My <em>actual</em> name is Gabriel.’ Laura looked at him puzzled as she tried to think of the corresponding musician.<br/>
‘You know, Gabriel,’ Tepig said, slightly offended. ‘Peter Gabriel, the lead singer of Genesis.’ Laura shook her head. The name didn’t ring a bell. ‘Then what about David Lee Roth, of Van Halen?’ Tepig tried. Laura shrugged, for as much as that was possible while holding on to Talon’s feathers. Tepig made another attempt.<br/>
‘Then what about Martin, after Chris Martin.’<br/>
‘From Coldplay!’ Laura yelled out. Tepig sighed with relief. ‘Alright then, from now on, you may call me Martin.’ Laura’s face turned serious again.<br/>
‘Guys, back at the station, that video they showed me… What was that?’ Dylan opened his mouth already to explain it to her, but Talon didn’t give him the chance.<br/>
‘That information is highly confidential. There is only a small group that can know the details of that case, and you do not belong to that group.’ Bowie looked at her in an apologetic way. ‘I’m sorry Laura, we have our orders.’ Laura sighed with frustration. It was apparently becoming a common practice among the Pokémon to keep information from her.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Reese, Jason and Tyler looked into Tyson’s room with complete astonishment. They had only seen these things on TV and in movies. They had never thought that their own friend would act like this.<br/>The floor of the room was completely covered in pieces of paper. Newspaper articles, printouts, sheets of paper filled with Tyson’s own notes, photographs, pictures and drawings. Three of the walls were covered in similar papers. Most of the newspaper articles had notes scribbled on the side by Tyson. Many of the papers and pictures were connected by pieces of string that sometimes crossed the entire room.<br/>The fourth wall was covered in fresh pieces of paper. Most of these had names, events, locations or dates written on them, sometimes complemented with photographs or additional printouts. The names and dates were connected by colored lines that were drawn over the entire wall. <br/>Behind Tyson’s computer stood an unknown device, out of which cables came that exited through the window.<br/>   ‘What’s that?’ Jason asked, since he knew a little bit more about computers than the other two.<br/>   ‘A personal invention,’ Tyson said proudly. ‘That way they can’t see what I’m doing on my computer. It doesn’t secure the phones however, so don’t use your cellphones while you’re here.’ Jason nodded carefully, as if it was completely normal what was happening here. ‘And who might “they” be exactly?’<br/>Tyson locked the door and checked if the window was completely closed, which it obviously wasn’t because of the cables going outside. ‘CIA, NSA, Illuminati, Knights Templars, whatever name you want to give them, it’s all the same. They control everything, they have everybody in their pocket. The presidents of America and Russia, the banks, all the armies in the world, everybody listens to them. They know everything, they wiretap everybody and most people don’t even know it. But I do know. They can’t get to me anymore. I finally understand how it all works. I know who’s part of it, and they can’t listen in on me anymore.’<br/>Tyler and Reese had started walk past the schema in the meantime.<br/>   ‘This is the most recent thing I’ve uncovered,’ Tyson said, pointing to a picture next to Tyler. The photograph was blurry and unclear. It had a lot of figurines that were probably people, and a large purple spot in the middle.<br/>   ‘That picture accompanied an article about a massacre in India. The people there claimed it was a monster. They couldn’t give any details, but it definitely wasn’t human. And ever since that moment, somebody has been trying to cover it all up. Now, at roughly the same time, a Russian freight ship completely disappeared. Apparently they were shipping for the Russian mob. I’m not sure how they’re linked yet, but it can’t be a coincidence.’<br/>   ‘Tyson, how far does this all go back?’ Reese asked, slightly afraid. He had never seen his friend as panicked or paranoid as this. ‘According to your schematics here, they’re responsible for the 9/11 attacks, the dissolving of the Soviet Union, Watergate, the Moon landing and the assassination of Kennedy.’<br/>   ‘I’ve got more over here,’ Tyler said. ‘The communist revolution in China, the wars in Vietnam and Korea, the two World Wars, the Octoberrevolution in Russia.’<br/>   ‘The French revolution,’ Jason added, as he started walking through the room too. ‘The independence of the United States, the unification of Germany.’<br/>   ‘The crusades,’ Reese continued. It got scarier by the minute. Reese didn’t know what was worse: the possibility that Tyson was losing his mind, or the possibility that he actually wasn’t and this was all true.<br/>   ‘The crucifixion of Jesus.’<br/>   ‘The murder of Caesar.’<br/>   ‘There is so much more,’ Tyson said. ‘They were active in Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, Egypt. Every major event in history is connected to them. The most important people are connected as well. Newton, Darwin, Edison, Galileo, Columbus. But also multiple popes, kings and emperors. Everybody who has left their mark on history was being manipulated and controlled by them.’<br/>For hours, the guys looked around the room and studied the notes. Tyson explained everything he had uncovered. The longer the guys studied the schematics, the more worried they got. Even though it seemed logical in a strange way, it was clear that Tyson was looking for things that weren’t there. <br/>Suddenly the house got shook up by an earthquake. The guys grabbed hold onto anything they could find. Tyson dove towards his computer to prevent it from breaking because of the tremors.<br/>   ‘Do you see!’ Tyson yelled when the earthquake was over. ‘We’re not on a fault line here, nor are we close to an active volcano. The ground is firm around here. There shouldn’t be an earthquake happening here, and yet it did!’<br/>   ‘Hold on,’ Tyler said. ‘Do you honestly claim that these people even control nature itself?’<br/>   ‘Not really control it,’ Tyson calmly answered. ‘They manipulate it. Earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, they can all be started artificially. They wouldn’t normally happen around here, but these people force them to anyway.’<br/>   ‘Do you remember when we were in that bar a while back?’ Jason asked. ‘You said you were being followed. Was that done by these people too?’ Tyson hesitated for a moment.<br/>   ‘I haven’t been able to identify them yet, but I’m fairly certain it was them.’<br/>   ‘How?’ Tyler asked. ‘You claimed you were being followed by birds and that eyes were staring at you from the darkness. I’m willing to believe that people might have been looking at you from the bushes with binoculars and that the lenses reflected or something like that, but how do you explain the birds? They can’t control those now, can they?’<br/>   ‘Have you ever heard of carrier pigeons?’ Tyson asked. ‘If they can teach those birds to go to one specific place, then they can also train other birds to follow me.’<br/>   ‘But why you?’ Reese asked. ‘You have never concerned yourself with these things. Why would they follow you?’ Tyson had no solid response for that.<br/>   ‘I think they’re following everybody, and I’m just one of the few who managed to uncover it. I have no doubt that you guys are being followed as well.’<br/>Time kept passing, as Tyson was being questioned by his friends. The more they talked to him, the more scared they got, both for the wellbeing of their friend and for the possibly made-up organization that was keeping track of everything. They did not notice that under the cover of the night, a pair of blue and yellow eyes was watching them.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lucario kept his eyes focused tightly on the Zoroark. Bolt hovered next to him, ready to shock their prisoner if needed. Lucario didn’t expect the Zoroark to wake up, but you could never be too sure.<br/>As soon as they hit the ground, Echo had turned into a Steelix. That way he could transport them all to the underground base of the Elite-Squad. As a Steelix, he could easily create a tunnel for them, which Crusher would then close behind them. Houdini would scan their surroundings while Lucario and Bolt kept watch over Zoroark. Every now and then Lucario would use his aura powers to scan their surroundings too, but he could generally trust Houdini with that. His telepathic powers allowed him to register and read the thoughts of every living creature in the vicinity. If there was anybody close that could be bad news, Houdini would immediately know it. Lucario knew how difficult this was. He himself could be aware of the life energy of everything around him. Even the smallest bugs in the ground would be a blip on his radar. This made it incredibly difficult to filter out the noise and find what you were looking for. It was even harder for Houdini, who could hear the thoughts of other as voices in his head. If he was looking for somebody specific, he needed to know exactly who he needed to find and what he had to listen for.<br/>With a decent amount of shame, Lucario had to admit that Houdini was a lot better at scanning their surroundings than he was. That was the main reason why Houdini was added to the team. Well, that and his telekinesis, teleportation and illusions. It was highly uncommon for an Alakazam to have all those powers, let alone master them at the level that Houdini did. <br/>Echo was of incredible value in his own right. He could change into every Pokémon or human he had ever met. Like with Houdini, Echo was far stronger than the average Pokémon of his species. Not many Ditto could morph into humans. In fact, Lucario had never met one that could aside from Echo.<br/>Bolt was pretty much Lucario’s assistant. Although that wasn’t really fair, Lucario immediately thought. In the modern, digital age, Bolt was extremely useful. He could easily short-circuit electronic devices, tap into the power grid, and erase hard drives or discs within seconds. Lucario had once seen Bolt reboot an entire server farm, which took their opponents weeks to undo. The only problem was that Bolt didn’t seem to trust anybody, aside from Lucario. He always stayed close to the team captain and only took orders from him. They would never know the reason for sure: Bolt couldn’t talk.<br/>Crusher was one of their biggest assets in the underground world that most Pokémon had withdrawn to. He could easily approach his target when burrowed into the ground to not be noticed, or mask himself as a rock formation. His earthquakes were a favorite to get the team out of a bad situation. In moments like this, he was also very useful for closing their escape route behind them and covering their tracks. <br/>Talon was always useful above ground, mostly as a means of transportation. The eagle was so big that he could easily inspect entire cities in mere minutes. Whenever they needed to be high up in the sky, Talon would stand ready. Like most members of the team, and most Pokémon in general, Talon controlled his size. Unlike other Pokémon however, Talon was able to also use his energy to make himself larger. This made it possible for him to carry the entire team when needed, although he kept struggling with carrying Crusher.<br/>The triplets were the main attacking group of the team. When push came to shove every team member would be able to defend themselves, but the triplets had fighting as their main priority, something that Lucario always tried to avoid as much as possible. Like everybody else on the team, they mastered the skill of devolution, which allowed them to evolve whenever they wanted, and move freely in their evolutionary line. The entire team could do this, but Bolt, Talon and the triplets used it the most. Echo had no need for it, he could already change into everything he wanted. Houdini was a part of the team specifically for his skills as an Alakazam, and Crusher was more useful as a Golem than as a Geodude. Lucario personally always enjoyed his form. That’s also why he had never chosen a new name.<br/>The triplets had proven their skill time and time again. Because of their long history together – Lucario never managed to find out if they were actually triplets or not – they had learned to anticipate each other’s moves and work together as if they had one mind. Gabriel – or whatever he called himself these days, Tepig wasn’t easily satisfied with a name – usually formed the central defense, while Bowie and Dylan would charge forward as a Blaziken and an Infernape. Their weaknesses would usually be covered by Lucario and Echo, sometimes even by Crusher and Houdini although they preferred to stay on the sidelines for coverage.<br/>Lucario got taken out of his thoughts by a soft warning from Houdini.<br/>   ‘There’s a new voice,’ he whispered. Lucario quickly scanned the auras around him, but couldn’t find anything unusual. He shook his head. ‘What kind of voice do you hear?’<br/>   ‘A dark one,’ Houdini said. Lucario noticed a hint of fear in his friend’s voice. ‘Lucario, could this be…’<br/>   ‘No premature conclusions,’ Lucario said. ‘We were sent here for him.’ He pointed to the Zoroark.  <br/>   ‘The voice must have come from within his head.’ Houdini focused his attention to the Zoroark. Suddenly he raised his head, his eyes preyed open wide. <br/>   ‘His thoughts are active!’ he yelled. Lucario jumped up. ‘Echo, Crusher, watch out! Bolt…’ Lucario couldn’t finish his sentence because Echo interrupted him.<br/>   ‘Guys, this isn’t good. Look where we’re going!’<br/>The dark cave had changed into a calm, pleasant valley filled with flowerbeds and a calmly flowing stream. A warm afternoon sun shined its light upon the valley. Birds were singing, animals easily grazed through the grass. Lucario looked at the Zoroark. He was still lying on Echo’s back, as if nothing had happened.<br/>A small deer jumped over Echo, closely by Lucario. Houdini aimed his focus at the Zoroark again. ‘His thoughts are gone,’ he mumbled. ‘I can’t hear anything anymore, not even a subconscious.’<br/>Lucario nodded to Bolt, who gave the Zoroark a short electric shock. The unconscious body didn’t respond to it. Just to be sure, Lucario hit the body again. His fist went right through the Zoroark, who disappeared in thin air.<br/>   ‘An illusion!’ Crusher yelled. Lucario, Houdini and Crusher immediately jumped off Echo’s back. Echo changed into a Hariyama and joined his friends in their formation. Bolt grew to a Magnezone and hovered above the other four.<br/>   ‘All of this is an illusion,’ Lucario said. ‘Houdini, try to break through it, that’s our best hope of finding our target. Echo, Crusher, Bolt, we’ll break down the illusion bit by bit. Start with the animals. Take them out, Zoroark likely hid himself among them.’<br/>The team didn’t hesitate. Bolt immediately sent lightning bolts towards the animals, while Echo and Crusher both took care of one side with Lucario going for the middle. They soon discovered it was no good. For every animal they took out – and with it a piece of the illusion – Zoroark would simply bring a new one out. Now that he wasn’t unconscious anymore, he could use his powers at full capacity again, and that made him a very dangerous foe.<br/>   ‘I’ve got him!’ Houdini suddenly yelled out. ‘Lucario, it’s the first deer on your right.’ Lucario recognized it as the deer that had previously jumped over Echo’s back. With a strong punch, he smacked the deer down to the ground. The animal disappeared, and the only thing that remained was yet again unconscious Zoroark. The sunny valley changed back into the dark cavern again. The others joined up at Lucario again.<br/>   ‘So can we now finally take him away?’ Crusher asked.<br/>   ‘I’m afraid not,’ Houdini said. ‘There is yet another voice, one I don’t recognize.’ The team prepared themselves, but it made no difference. The cave was too dark to see their attacker in time. The only thing they had to go on, were the footsteps that approached them at an insane speed. Echo and Lucario looked at each other with a worried look on their faces.<br/>   ‘Lucario…’ Houdini whispered scared. ‘I can’t read him!’<br/>   ‘No you cannot,’ Farley said behind him.</p>
<p>
  <em>Bugs. They appear all over the earth, and in it as well. Many people hate bugs. They sting, prick, leave poison and venom, spread diseases or are downright annoying. And yet bugs are as essential to life on earth as any living being. Bugs take care of nature’s garbage disposal. They balance out ecosystems. They provide the sustenance necessary for flowers to blossom and plants and trees to carry fruit.</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Laura heard the scream in her head at the same moment that Talon made a sharp turn.<br/>   ‘What’s happening?!’ she yelled. Because of Talon’s turning, she had to hold on even tighter to prevent her from plummeting to the ground.<br/>   ‘Trouble,’ was the short answer from Talon.<br/>   ‘That was a cry for help from Houdini,’ Bowie shouted over the sound of the wind. Talon had gone even faster than before. The three smaller Pokémon – and Martin in particular – now had a lot of trouble staying on as well.<br/>   ‘Where are we going?’ Laura asked. This night didn’t even closely resemble the quiet night with Henry she had planned.<br/>   ‘Feldspar City,’ Talon answered. </p><p>It was a weird sensation, entering an underground tunnel flying on the back of gigantic bird. Laura couldn’t really figure out where they were, but she remembered that Terry had told her there were many entrances hidden in nature. Much to her surprise, Talon could easily fit in the tunnel, although she did have the feeling that he had shrunken a little bit. When the tunnel got wider, Talon landed an let everybody climb of his back.<br/>   ‘Are Lucario and the others here?’ Laura asked softly. She didn’t even know why she started whispering, the entire atmosphere of the situation made her feel like it was appropriate.<br/>   ‘No, they are somewhere else,’ Talon said. He spoke softly, but his deep, impressive voice got amplified by the echoes of the cave and still sounded very loud. ‘But we have incoming.’<br/>Laura focused and then heard it too. Quick footsteps, too fast to be human, came in their direction. And there was another sound too, which Laura couldn’t really identify.<br/>Within seconds, the triplets grew to their final forms. Talon jumped in the air again and remained in place there, hovering over the others. Martin took up position directly behind Laura, while Bowie and Dylan stood in front of her. The three fire Pokémon now formed a triangle around her, with Talon directly above her.<br/>The footsteps were getting louder, as was the other sound. It almost sounded a little bit like buzzing… Bowie and Dylan created fire in their hands and kept it aimed at the dark hallway in front of them, ready to attack whatever would come their way.<br/>   ‘Stand down!’ a commanding voice sounded from the cave. He sounded familiar, but Laura couldn’t directly place him.<br/>   ‘Friendlies, friendlies!’ a female voice added.<br/>Hunter and Ace came charging from the cave at extreme speed. Hunter stopped right in front of Dylan and Bowie, but Ace kept flying, narrowly going past Talon.<br/>   ‘Talon!’ she yelled, still flying incredibly fast. ‘With me! I know where they are!’ Talon turned around and dashed towards Ace, disappearing into the darkness with her. <br/>   ‘Triplets,’ Hunter said hurried. ‘Help me get the girl into the city. Hop on!’<br/>Laura climbed on Hunter’s back, as well as Martin – who had changed back to a Tepig again – since he couldn’t run as fast as the others. Hunter started running back into the city again, but Laura could tell he was holding back a little bit to allow Bowie and Dylan to run alongside them. Laura didn’t mind: it gave her a chance to ask some of the questions that were running through her mind.<br/>   ‘Can somebody finally tell me what the hell is going on?’ She was getting tired of being left in the dark while everybody around her seemed to know every detail of what was happening. ‘Like for starters: who are you? What’s the Elite-Squad?’<br/>   ‘They’re the secret service of the Pokémon world,’ Hunter replied. ‘The word “elite” isn’t in the name just for showing off: they are some of the strongest Pokémon we have, with unique powers and abilities that you won’t find anywhere else. And right now, those very Pokémon have indicated that they have a problem that they can’t handle on their own. Do you really think this is the right moment to play 20 questions?’<br/>   ‘Yes, I do! You have consistently berated me, mocked me, withheld information from me and acted like I was some ignorant child! I thought you needed me. It would be nice then if you could also tell me what is happening and who I could turn to if I needed help!’<br/>   ‘We do need you,’ Hunter said, less aggressive this time. ‘But you have to understand that there are a lot of important Pokémon. You have already met Aerodactyl and Blastoise, and that’s not something many people can say, let alone humans.’<br/>   ‘And there is a very good reason why you haven’t seen us before,’ Dylan said. ‘The Elite-Squad only jumps into action when things are about to go horribly wrong. The less you see us, the better things are.’<br/>   ‘I promise you: everything will become clear in time,’ Martin said. ‘Just… not right now.’<br/>The rest of the trip back to Feldspar City was done in silence. This time, they didn’t pass the rock wall which Laura entered through the first time. The approached the city from the opposite direction.<br/>   ‘Are there no guards on this route?’ Laura asked. ‘I haven’t seen a wall, no guards, no checkpoints or gates.’<br/>   ‘Just because you haven’t seen the guards, doesn’t mean they weren’t there,’ Hunter laughed. Laura looked behind her and saw a Haunter appear a few meters back. The purple Pokémon briefly grinned at her and then turned invisible again.<br/>   ‘That was Claydol’s idea. He has set up several outposts around the city that keep an eye out for possible intruders. Almost all defensive measures around the city were created by him.’<br/>   ‘Really?’ Laura was amazed by Claydol’s effort. It couldn’t have been easy to create security for an entire city. ‘So that gate I went through last time… he wasn’t just the gatekeeper for that?’<br/>   ‘Nope, he actually created that,’ Hunter replied.<br/>   ‘Aerodactyl’s cave?’<br/>   ‘His idea.’<br/>   ‘The Gyre?’<br/>   ‘He… Well I don’t know actually. Claydol is old, he has been our gatekeeper for as long as I can remember. But I don’t know if he has been here for that long.’<br/>   ‘You don’t know your own gatekeeper?’<br/>   ‘Nobody really knows much about Claydol. He is older than most Pokémon that currently live in the city. Older generations showed him a lot of respect, so we just did the same. He was good at his job, so we let him keep it. But when you have shown as much dedication to this city as he has, the past doesn’t really matter anymore.’<br/>Hunter and the triplets didn’t take her into the city, as Laura had expected. Instead, they ran along the outskirts of the city, to a regular looking hill that Laura hadn’t seen before. In the past she might have considered that a strange place to stop, but ever since Marshall had revealed himself, there were few things that really surprised her anymore. <br/>Bowie pushed his arm into a hole in the hill. After a few seconds the entire front of the hill opened up in two halves, like the gates in old castles. Laura and the triplets went inside. Hunter gave them a quick nod and ran back into the city.<br/>   ‘Let me guess,’ Laura said. ‘That door opened up because of a few ground Pokémon. Or were they rock Pokémon?’<br/>   ‘None of the above,’ Dylan laughed. ‘This was simple mechanics.’<br/>They stood in a large open area. Several tunnels provided entrance to the area. Laura couldn’t see where they went, but she could see several Pokémon enter and exit them. Just like at the central plaza in Feldspar, there was small puddle here in which a few water Pokémon swam. In other parts of the hall, Laura saw several Pokémon of every type she knew, varying in size and cuteness. The entire room was illuminated by large stone containers with fire placed around the area. <br/>   ‘What is this place?’ Laura asked.<br/>   ‘Our headquarters.’ Lucario appeared from the closest tunnel to her. Houdini and Echo – who had taken the shape of a Gallade – followed closely behind him. The three Pokémon looked bruised and beaten and were covered in wounds.<br/>   ‘What happened?’ Laura asked concerned. ‘How did you get those wounds?’<br/>   ‘We were attacked,’ Echo said. ‘It happened too quickly to fight back.’ A Chansey appeared from the same hallway and pushed her short arms against Lucario and Houdini. The two Pokémon shivered for a moment, but then their wounds closed up. The Chansey repeated the process with Echo.<br/>   ‘Crusher and Bolt are already healed,’ she said to Lucario. ‘The boss wants to speak to you.’ Lucario nodded to show that he understood her. The Chansey turned to Laura. ‘You too.’<br/>Lucario, Echo and Houdini walked into the open area and went straight for the largest tunnel in the room, located directly opposite the entrance. Laura hurried after them, curious to the boss of the team. The triplets disappeared among the other Pokémon.<br/>   ‘I thought Lucario was your boss,’ she said softly to Echo. They started walking a little bit slower to create some distance between them and Lucario.<br/>   ‘He is our team leader. He makes sure everything goes well during the mission. But we receive the missions from somebody else: our boss.’ <br/>   ‘He’s not just our boss,’ Houdini joined their conversation. ‘He is essentially the leader of Feldspar City.’<br/>   ‘I thought you didn’t have rulers.’<br/>   ‘We don’t,’ said Echo. ‘Power only corrupts people and Pokémon. But whenever you don’t have somebody with an official title, there will be somebody who does the same work unofficially. That’s where our boss comes in. Most Pokémon in this city have never even seen him. He only works with the ones that have important functions, like Hunter, Ace and Claydol. He helps them behind the scenes and sends them out on assignment when needed.’<br/>   ‘Sure, that doesn’t make it seem shady,’ Laura mumbled.<br/>Lucario meanwhile kept walking. If he was listening to their conversation, he made a real effort not to let them know it.<br/>   ‘So where does he fit in all of this?’ Laura asked, gesturing to Lucario.<br/>   ‘Like we said: team leader,’ said Houdini. ‘He has the command in the field, which also means that he usually has the final call. He occasionally does disagree with the boss. As do we, to be honest. The boss tries to keep the casualties to a minimum, Lucario insists on keeping that number at zero. For the boss, the mission comes first. Ultimately his goal is right and justified, but we sometimes take issue with how he wants to achieve that goal.’<br/>   ‘And when that happens, you follow Lucario’s lead.’ Laura didn’t say it as a question, just a general observation, but the two Pokémon nodded in confirmation.<br/>   ‘He saved our lives so many times, there is no way we can ever repay him,’ Echo said.<br/>   ‘If it ever does come to a confrontation between Lucario and the boss, there is no doubt who’s side we will be on,’ Houdini added. <br/>   ‘So, ehm, why doesn’t Lucario have a name?’ Laura asked. She was getting a little bit uncomfortable with the direction this conversation was taking, despite the fact that she had yet to meet this “boss”. ‘Almost every Pokémon I’ve met so far had a name, except for Blastoise, Aerodactyl and Claydol. I just assumed I couldn’t know their names yet because it was too special or something.’<br/>   ‘They’ve had names once, but those are long forgotten,’ Houdini said. ‘And as for Lucario: he has had many names. More than we even know probably. Unlike us however, he just never had a name that he liked enough to keep.’<br/>   ‘He went by Anubis for a while, like the Egyptian jackal god,’ Echo recalled.<br/>   ‘And Ezio,’ Houdini said. ‘Like the main character from Assassin’s Creed.’<br/>   ‘Some names were less creative, such as Aura and Bluesteel.’<br/>   ‘And don’t forget the infamous Blacksteel,’ Houdini added laughing. ‘But there is one other name…’<br/>   ‘Are you sure about this Houdini?’ Echo asked.<br/>   ‘Ah don’t worry. If the girl has proven anything so far, it’s that she can keep a secret. A few years ago, we were on a mission in central Africa, when suddenly a shaman found us. He just so happened to have seen the Ultra Beast we were chasing, so he helped us out a bit. And then suddenly he turns to Lucario and says: “I wish you the best of luck, Uritan. We have not forgotten you.” So after we leave, I ask Lucario what that word “Uritan’ was, and he says…”<br/>   ‘I said “It’s a name I hoped never to hear again”,’ Lucario suddenly said in front of them. ‘And I had hoped you would honor that request.’ Houdini looked ashamed, and Echo let his head hang a little bit too, although Laura couldn’t help but notice a hint of a smile on his face.<br/>   ‘So that shaman wasn’t surprised by you guys at all?’ Laura asked, to break the tension. Houdini shook his head.<br/>   ‘There are places in this world where people are willing to accept the unfamiliar, the supernatural. Sadly though, those places aren’t many.’<br/>   ‘They are mostly pagan groups,’ Echo said. ‘Native tribes in the America’s, Aboriginals in the Australian Outback, African villages, dessert nomads, places like Alaska, Siberia, Tibet. We can often walk freely among them, and are sometimes even respected by them.’<br/>In the meantime, they had arrived at the end of the hallway. There was a door in front of them, and Lucario opened it in the same way that Bowie had earlier opened the front gate to the headquarters. <br/>The next room was surprisingly empty, compared to the slightly chaotic front lobby that she entered in. A few objects made from stone somewhat resembled chairs and a table. In one of the corners of the room stood a large stone container with water. Another door provided the only other variation in the monotonous empty walls. Here too stood containers with fire to provide light.<br/>One of the walls was filled with imagery of Ace and Talon. It reminded Laura of the movie screens in the cinema. In front of the wall stood a tall Absol.<br/>   ‘Head back to the city,’ the Absol said. ‘We will catch him some other time. He is bound to turn up again.’ Ace nodded and flew away. The images disappeared almost immediately.<br/>   ‘Wow,’ Laura said. ‘How did you do that!’<br/>   ‘Try to be polite,’ Echo said sharply.<br/>   ‘Don’t worry about that Echo,’ the Absol said. ‘To answer your question: that is what I use as a communications system. A psychic Pokémon sends me the thoughts of Ace and Talon, and I project those thoughts by creating an image based on what they see. We Absol learn that at an early age. Back in the day, humans would misunderstand us and took our warning for threats, so we had to find a way to make ourselves even clearer. But where are my manners? It’s a pleasure to meet you Laura. My name is Varo, and I’m the leader of the Elite-Squad.’</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>While Lucario gave Varo a quick recap of what happened at the police station, Laura tried to let everything sink in. Only a few hours ago, she was getting ready to have a nice calm dinner, and now she was standing in what was essentially the mayor’s office of Feldspar City. Only now however did she notice the body of Zoroark lying next to Varo on the ground.<br/>   ‘What are you going to do with him?’ she asked.<br/>   ‘Not much anymore,’ Varo said. His voice got darker and more serious. ‘He’s dead.’<br/>   ‘Dead?’ Laura asked shocked. ‘How did that happen?’<br/>   ‘The same Pokémon that attacked us, killed him,’ Lucario said. ‘It happened too fast for us to do anything about it. Zoroark had us distracted with his illusions, so by the time we noticed the danger it was already too late. Bolt and Crusher were incapacitated before we could even locate our assailant. The rest of us fought back, but without much success. I’d be surprised if we even managed to land one hit. When the dust settled again, he had left with Zoroark. We followed after him, but only found his corpse.’<br/>   ‘What kind of Pokémon was that?’ Laura was getting scared. Whoever it was, he had taken out five very strong Pokémon without much effort. Varo sighed annoyed. ‘We don’t have a name…’<br/>   ‘Actually, we do,’ Houdini interrupted. The others looked at him with surprise. ‘I couldn’t really read his mind, he had thrown up a barrier. But during his fight with Echo, his defenses slipped. Not much got through, only a name, but it’s a start.’<br/>   ‘So what is his name?’ Varo asked.<br/>   ‘Farley.’ They let the name hang in the air for a moment, as if it was supposed to mean something, although none of them knew exactly what. Varo eventually nodded. ‘Nice work Houdini. This might get us somewhere. The mission didn’t go as I had hoped, but at least we got something out of it.’<br/>   ‘Uh, if I could just jump in here,’ Laura said carefully. The four Pokémon looked at her in anticipation. ‘Can somebody finally tell me what is going on here? I’m right in the middle of this whole thing, but I feel like I know the least and any time I ask questions, all I hear is “this is not the right time”.’<br/>   ‘You’re right,’ Varo said. ‘You deserve some answers. Let me start at the beginning.’<br/>   ‘Don’t!’ Marshall yelled. The little Pokémon came running through the door with Skye and Terry right behind him. ‘Trust me Laura, it’s better for you if you don’t know!’<br/>   ‘We’re so sorry,’ Terry said.<br/>   ‘We tried to stop him,’ Skye said. Varo looked angrily at the three Pokémon.<br/>   ‘Marshall, I know I appointed you as her personal guide, but you don’t have the right to tell my agents and me what we can and can’t do. I tell her what I want to tell her, and you’ll just have to accept that.’<br/>   ‘Isn’t anybody going to ask me what I want?’ Laura yelled. She was getting really tired of all the Pokémon acting like they knew what was best for her. ‘I finally want some answers! The last two months my life has been turned upside down, and from the looks of it I could have been killed tonight, and I still don’t know what for!!’ It went dead silent in the room. All the Pokémon present were surprised by her ferocity. Lucario was the first one to speak again.<br/>   ‘You are absolutely right. You were promised training and guidance, and we have given you neither of those. So, here we are. You’ve met the team, you’ve seen what we can do in action, our special skills and our devolution ability. The ones you saw in action tonight are the core of the Elite-Squad, the A-Team, whatever you want to call it. If we need help on a certain mission, we ask other Pokémon like Ace, Hunter or Marshall here.’<br/>Laura looked at the Mudkip with disbelief. ‘You’ve helped this team?’<br/>Marshall acted as if she had asked him if he ever rode a bike. ‘Yeah, every now and then. If they really needed me.’<br/>   ‘So, what? Does that mean you have the devolution skill too? And what about Terry and Skye?’ Marshall sighed and changed into a Swampert. Skye and Terry followed his example and immediately evolved into a Staraptor and an Ursaring.<br/>   ‘I’m sorry we didn’t tell you before,’ Terry said. ‘It seemed best if you could get familiar with our smaller forms first.’ He changed back into a Teddiursa. ‘And we do really prefer our smaller forms, that wasn’t a lie.’ Skye and Marshall also changed back.<br/>   ‘So if you’re this powerful and possess this special skill, why weren’t you there to protect me tonight?’ Laura looked at her guardians in anger, and then turned to Lucario. ‘As a matter of fact, why were you?’<br/>   ‘That requires some more explaining,’ Varo sighed. He walked to the only other door in the room without saying a word. Laura looked at the other Pokémon, asking non verbally for some hints as to what was going to happen next, but it was quickly made clear that she wasn’t going to get any. So she just followed Varo to the door.<br/>The second Varo opened the door, a bright blue light shone into the otherwise pretty dark room. It almost hurt her eyes, and she had to walk along mostly on touch. Throughout the entire room flew hundreds of Unown. A pathway was made through the middle, ending at a circular platform with a gigantic stone table on it. The Unown flew around it at a high pace, so fast that Laura was afraid they’d crash into each other and disrupt the seemingly fragile balance that they upheld in the air. She started getting used a bit to the bright blue light, although she couldn’t determine where it could possibly come from.<br/>Varo and Lucario walked steadfast towards the table at the end, and Laura simply followed, with the other Pokémon right behind her. Judging from the reactions of Skye and Terry, she could tell they hadn’t been here before either. The others, and most noticeably Marshall, were clearly more at ease than she was.<br/>   ‘We don’t know exactly how they work,’ Varo said. ‘Houdini has tried multiple times to read their mind, but without success. We don’t know where they get their information. The only thing we know for certain, is that they know much, much more than we do.’<br/>Six of the Unown descended on the table and formed a word.<br/>   ‘Darius,’ Laura read. She looked around the group of Pokémon. ‘What’s Darius?’<br/>   ‘Darius is the reason you’ve met us all tonight,’ Varo said. ‘We don’t know much more than that name – if it even is a name. We can’t exactly ask the Unown many questions. Even if they understand us, then they choose to ignore our request. We simply get information whenever they feel fit, and sadly that’s not all that often.’<br/>   ‘We suspect that Zoroark had something to do with Darius,’ Lucario said. Varo meanwhile went back to his office, and the others followed slowly. The Unown flew away from the table again and disappeared in the vast amount of similar Unown hovering through the room.<br/>   ‘The team had three missions tonight,’ Varo said. ‘The first one was to bring Zoroark here. We had hoped he might tell us something more about Darius. As you know, we sadly didn’t accomplish that.’<br/>   ‘The second goal,’ Lucario said, ‘was to get you to safety. The third goal was to remove that video you saw.’<br/>   ‘So that video was indeed a Pokémon, wasn’t it?’ Laura asked. ‘It was blurry, but I could gather that much.’<br/>   ‘And not just any Pokémon,’ Marshall grumbled. ‘He is one of the biggest threats to our society right now. So show a little respect, will you.’<br/>   ‘That video showed something that happened in India two months ago,’ Varo said. ‘It happened around the time you came here in Feldspar first. A Gabite killed twenty people on a market square, including seven policemen. After that, he evolved into a Garchomp. After the massacre, he jumped into the Ganges and disappeared. We’ve tried to track him, but without any luck. Thanks to Houdini, we now know his name is Farley.’<br/>   ‘Farley’s slaughter was filmed by a few people on their cellphones,’ Lucario said. ‘For the past two months, we have tried to erase or destroy as many of those video’s as we could. The internet hasn’t been our friend in that effort. Luckily though, we have gotten rid of almost all of them, leaving only a few people who claimed to have seen a monster. They’re not likely to be believed all that much.’<br/>   ‘And now this Farley has also killed Zoroark?’ Laura asked. Lucario and Varo nodded at the same time. ‘But why?’<br/>   ‘We’ll probably never know,’ Varo sighed. ‘I can try to do something with the spirit, but I’m not sure how much help that will be.’ The Absol walked to the corpse, bowed over it and closed his eyes.<br/>   ‘What’s he doing?’ Laura whispered to Echo.<br/>   ‘Dark type Pokémon have an unusual connection to the dead. When they try hard enough, they might be able to bring back some of the memories of the deceased. Nobody is as good with that skill as Varo, so if anybody can do it, it’ll be him.’ On the wall that Varo had used earlier as a screen for his thoughts, images suddenly appeared.<br/>Laura saw a Garchomp running through the caves. For a moment she was wondering where the Zoroark was, until she realized that they were seeing everything through his eyes.<br/>   ‘Thanks for the rescue,’ she heard Zoroark say, panting from all the running. The Garchomp suddenly stopped running and looked at the Zoroark with an ominous smile. Because of the images, it seemed like he was looking directly at Laura, and she felt a cold shiver run through her entire body. The Zoroark stopped too, and Laura could tell he didn’t understand what was happening. Without any warning, the Garchomp jammed his spike into the abdomen of the Zoroark. They could hear that the Zoroark wanted to say something, but he could only produce a gurgling sound. The attack had come so sudden, that Laura couldn’t prevent herself from letting out a little screech. The Zoroark fell to the ground, moaning in agony, when the Garchomp pulled out the bloody spike.<br/>   ‘Darius wanted to keep you alive,’ the Garchomp growled. ‘I didn’t.’<br/>The images changed. Laura now saw the Zoroark lying on the back of Echo as they went through the caverns. Judging from the faces of Houdini, Echo and Lucario with her in the room, she could tell this wasn’t a proud moment for them. The images changed faster now. Laura saw the entire evening happening in reverse order, but at a much higher pace. The images after that were less interesting. Zoroark had been following the real agent Jones for a long time to be able to impersonate him as well as possible. <br/>Suddenly the surroundings in the images changed. Laura no longer saw an urban environment, but instead was walking through the mountains. From behind a wall, they were watching a Gabite talk to a group of monks. Later they watched from a grotto how that same Gabite was working a field.<br/>The next images showed Zoroark walking into the monastery, but something was off. When Zoroark looked down briefly, Laura realized what it was: he had disguised himself as a Gabite. The monks greeted him kindly, but the Zoroark was in a hurry. He immediately killed two of the monks with his claws, and quickly charged at a group of others, killing as many as possible in the process. He used some other moves as well to be lethal at a distance, but it happened too fast for Laura to really see which ones. The result is clear though: Zoroark came here to kill.<br/>After that, he ran out of the monastery and hid among the rocks. Soon afterwards, Farley came walking up, a fearful look on his face, as if something got him deeply troubled but he himself didn’t even realize what. As soon as Farley was out of sight, Zoroark ran down the mountain, to Farley’s field, and set it on fire.<br/>   ‘Great work,’ said an unseen voice. The voice was dark and cold, and gave Laura a new round of shivers.<br/>   ‘That’s him!’ Houdini yelled. Varo got startled, and the images disappeared. ‘That’s the voice I heard in the cave! I heard it right before Zoroark woke up!’<br/>   ‘That must have been Darius,’ Varo deduced. ‘Zoroark took everything away from Farley, leaving him empty and ready to be used by Darius.’<br/>   ‘So a cold-blooded killer works for the same boss as another cold-blooded killer,’ Lucario stated lightly. ‘Is there any bad news?’<br/>   ‘If Farley really works for Darius, then why didn’t he kill us?’ Echo asked. ‘I mean, he had every chance to back in the caves.’<br/>   ‘His mission was only to save Zoroark,’ said Varo. ‘We heard him say it himself. If it’s true that Darius himself recruited Farley, it’s likely that Farley does exactly what Darius tells him.’<br/>   ‘No, there’s more to it,’ Lucario said, deep in thought. ‘It’s true that Darius wanted Zoroark alive, Farley said so. And yet he still killed him. That means he went directly against his orders. He only killed Zoroark after they had escaped.’<br/>   ‘What are you getting at?’ Houdini asked.<br/>   ‘If Farley is working for Darius, it’s not unconditionally,’ Lucario thought out loud. ‘Some part of Farley still has its own will. Darius didn’t break him completely, even if he might think he did.’<br/>   ‘I don’t know yet, I’d have to talk to him personally to figure that out.’<br/>   ‘Better you than me,’ Echo remarked.<br/>   ‘What I still don’t understand, is why Zoroark and Darius went after me,’ Laura said. ‘He could have gone after presidents, generals, kings. Why me specifically?’<br/>   ‘Well, that has to do with a different skill of mine,’ Varo smiled. ‘Tell me, what do you know of Absol from your video games and TV shows?’<br/>Laura thought for a moment. ‘You are capable of predicting natural disasters,’ she said. Varo chuckled.<br/>   ‘Close, but not really. Absol have the unique talent of having visions. It happens rather arbitrarily really. Sometimes it happens in response to something. Sometimes I can even conjure them myself. Most of the times however, they just happen at random moments, without reason or warning. The first time the Unown gave me the name Darius, it triggered a vision.’<br/>Varo closed his eyes, and the wall got filled with images again. Laura saw rows upon rows of metal giants, armed with swords, marching through a cave. The images kept on going; it must have been thousands of soldiers. Varo opened his eyes and the images disappeared again.<br/>   ‘Those were Golurk, wielding Honedge, Doublade and Aegislash,’ he said. The explanation wasn’t needed: Laura had recognized the Pokémon immediately.<br/>   ‘We suspect this is Darius’s army,’ Lucario said. ‘We don’t know what he wants to use it for, but it can’t be much good. An army this large isn’t often used for peacekeeping missions.’<br/>   ‘But Darius isn’t the only one with an army,’ Varo said. ‘Years ago, we started creating our own. It isn’t part of Feldspar City, but consists of Pokémon from all over the world. We once created it to stand ready in case we ever got to another P-Day, or if Arceus forbid we get into another civil war. We luckily didn’t have to use it all that much, but that doesn’t mean their useless. The soldiers are well trained, and the generals are two of the most reliable Pokémon I know.’<br/>   ‘Most of these soldiers are bound to Poké Balls,’ Lucario said. ‘Or at least, they were. For the past two months, you have freed many of them by breaking their Poké Balls. The army now has a much better chance of standing against Darius when the time comes, and for that we owe you a great debt of gratitude.’<br/>Laura turned furiously to Marshall, who had kept suspiciously quiet during the entire explanation.<br/>   ‘You knew about this?’ she yelled. She felt used and lied to. Marshall didn’t answer, but stared to the ground.<br/>   ‘Is this why you came to me?’ Laura asked, even more angrily. ‘So that I could strengthen your army? I thought I was freeing innocent Pokémon from mental destruction, like that poor Tsareena you showed me. But instead, I was just training soldiers!? I hate violence! And now you used me to jumpstart a war! And now that nearly got me killed!’<br/>   ‘Yes we used you!’ Marshall yelled back. ‘And to be honest, I had figured you’d be a little more grateful. I have given you the opportunity to be part of history. You have been given the chance to do things that you would have never dreamed of before. You’ve met beings that you thought were fictional. And now you’re mad at me? Do you have any idea how difficult it was to do all this? A little bit of respect would be appropriate here!’<br/>   ‘Marshall, you didn’t tell her anything?’ Echo asked.<br/>   ‘That’s just cruel,’ Houdini said. ‘She sacrificed everything for you. You could at least have been honest with her what she was doing it all for.’<br/>   ‘Was any of it real?’ Laura asked. ‘Is there even going to be a P-Day?’<br/>   ‘Of course there is!’ Terry said, jumping into the discussion. But Marshall hesitated.<br/>   ‘Tell her, Marshall,’ Skye said, a little worried. ‘Tell her that there will indeed be a P-Day.’<br/>   ‘I am so sorry guys…’ Marshall said softly.<br/>   ‘What are you talking about!?’ Terry started yelling now too. ‘That was the whole plan, wasn’t it?’<br/>   ‘Varo and I made a plan to strengthen the army, so that we could win against Darius,’ Marshall said a little bit timid.<br/>   ‘Win what?’ Skye raged. ‘We don’t even know what he’s planning. We don’t even know what he is!’<br/>   ‘You lied to us!’ Terry said insulted. ‘To us. We spent an entire year in Poké Balls for you, and now you’re telling me it was all a lie?’<br/>Marshall looked to Varo for help, but the Absol shook his head.<br/>   ‘I immediately advised you to tell them the truth, but you decided against it. This one is all on you.’<br/>   ‘Laura, you have to believe that I knew nothing about all of this,’ Terry said apologetic.<br/>   ‘Me neither,’ Skye added. Laura made a decision.<br/>   ‘I want you to leave, Marshall,’ she said coldly. ‘I don’t ever want to see you again. You are no longer my guide, not my guardian, not my whatever. Go!’ Marshall looked at her with anger in his eyes, but he kept his mouth shut. Without saying anything, he left the room. Laura and the Pokémon watched him leave until the door closed again.<br/>   ‘So… what now?’ Terry asked after a short uncomfortable silence.<br/>   ‘Well, I must admit that a P-Day was never part of my plan,’ Varo said. ‘But considering all the preparations you and Skye took… I think we might actually be able to pull it off this time. I’m putting you two in charge of the whole thing. Take your time, no rush, do everything you feel you need to do before we move on to the final stage. I hereby pledge the entire Elite-Squad to your cause. Whatever you need from us, we will provide.’<br/>   ‘And the rest of the city?’ Terry asked.<br/>   ‘I will call a Conclave for tomorrow. If the events of the last few months aren’t enough reason for that, I don’t know what is. The ambassadors have every right to know what has happened with Farley, Darius and the Golurk. We can use that opportunity to fill them in and ask for their support as well.’ Varo then turned to Laura.<br/>   ‘It has become clear that you can’t go back to the human world. You have become a target for Darius, so it’s too dangerous for you out there. We need to be able to protect you, and we can’t do that in the human world.’<br/>   ‘So what do I have to do?’ Laura suddenly felt incredibly tired. Too much had happened in the past few hours, and her body just now got caught up.<br/>   ‘We will keep you here,’ said Varo. ‘We’ll put you in one of the houses, and Terry will stay with you for protection. The Pack and the Air Brigade will keep some guards stationed around your house as well. You will be safe here. So for now, go to your new home, and you’ll hear from us tomorrow about the Conclave.’</p>
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<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cold. It was very cold. Less bad than it was a while back, but still unbearable. He hadn’t heard anything in a while now, except his own body that protested against everything that was happening.<br/>The wooden planks of the crate had broken by now. The casing around it however had managed to still hold him. The humans had made the right decision. Those horrible, despicable, disgusting humans. They had probably left by now. The sounds of his surroundings had changed, there were fewer of them, and there were no human voices among them.<br/>There was a scraping sound, accompanied by the sound of gnawing. Light broke through the darkness of his prison. The monster couldn’t see his rescuer, but it didn’t smell like a human.<br/>The box started moving. The monster put his full weight against the side, in the same rhythm. With a loud bang, the metal prison fell over. It sounded like it hit rock. He wasn’t on the ship anymore, he concluded.<br/>The monster crawled out of his prison. In front of him stood three lynxes, all three much larger than him. The sudden change from darkness into light had blinded him completely. But he could still hear.<br/>The lynxes were hungry. The arid climate made it very difficult for them to find food. They didn’t know this creature, but it had meat on his body: a welcome change from the dry flora around here.<br/>The largest of the lynxes attacked first. With a strong jump, it leaped towards the monster. The monster just stood there, waiting. He heard the cat fly through the air. At the last moment, he took a step back, causing the lynx to land next to the monster. One of his front paws hit the ground very closely to the monster.<br/>With a quick snap, the monster bit the paw of the lynx. The lynx howled in pain and pulled its paw back. The wound was only superficial and not lethal. Filled with rage, the lynx attacked again, but the monster now had the taste of blood in its mouth and knew the scent of his enemy. Before the lynx was even prepared to attack yet, the monster had already closed its mouth around the entire paw of the animal.<br/>The sudden removal of one of his legs made it difficult for the lynx to keep his balance. This slowed him down. The monster bit at its other front paw. This wound cut deeper than the first, forcing the lynx to the ground. With one precise strike to the throat of the lynx, the monster ended the very uneven fight.<br/>The other two lynxes now attacked too. They weren’t as smart as the monster, not by a long shot. The monster bit at the right places, making it impossible for the lynxes to fight or even walk. Calmly, the monster smelled at its prey. One dead lynx, two dying. He couldn’t keep track of time, but it must have been well over a month since he last ate. <br/>The humans had inexplicably found his weakness, but that didn’t mean they were smarter than him. on the contrary: the only reason they were still alive was that they had the advantage of numbers. Because of his imprisonment, he could have only harmed them superficially. They had managed to lock him up, but they had made one vital mistake.<br/>They had let him live.</p>
<p>
  <em>Ice. It once covered the entire planet. Artifacts, bones, animals and even complete human bodies are captured in ice as remnants of this past age. The ice regulates the climate on earth. If all the ice would melt, a sizeable part of the earth would be flooded. The icecaps on the poles prevent the warmth of the sun from lingering on earth, thereby controlling the temperature. Without ice, many people would drown. And those that would survive that, would die in the scorching heat.</em>
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  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The meeting room looked unsurprisingly just like any other room that Laura had visited in Feldspar City. It was a long, stone hall, illuminated by the same containers of fire that she saw in Varo’s office. What set this room apart from most others however, was that it actually contained furniture. In the middle of the room stood a gigantic table made out of a single stone. Alongside the table stood several chairs of different sizes that looked like they had grown out of the ground. The room only had one entrance and exit. Here too was a small pond, with a little stream going from it to the table. In the walls of the room were small doors, which led to modest chambers.<br/>   ‘Those are for the exceptionally long meetings,’ Varo had explained. ‘This room is designed to give the most important Pokémon of Feldspar a place to meet and debate in what we call “The Conclave”. That Conclave will go on until agreement is reached, or an emergency situation demands our attention. And even though Pokémon can go a very long time without sleep, these Conclaves can sometimes go on too long, even for us.’<br/>When Laura had seen the chambers, she was happy with her own house in Feldspar City. It was very clear that this city was not designed with humans in mind. Everything in her house was made of stone, even her bed. Skye had been kind enough to bring over some of her clothes, which allowed her to make and improvised pillow and blanket. Despite that however, her house was still larger and more comfortable than these small chambers. Plus, it required less upkeep than her above ground house. Laura grimly thought of how she had now lived in three different houses in less than 48 hours. And to think she at one point was afraid of becoming a typical college student.<br/>The meeting room slowly started to fill up. When Laura had entered the room, the only Pokémon present were Varo, Lucario and Terry. Skye wouldn’t attend the Conclave. After finding out Marshall’s true motives, Skye had announced she needed a little bit of time to figure things out. To do that, she needed to be away from anything related to P-Day or Darius. She had – much to her father’s delight – decided that she would join the Air Brigade until the moment she felt comfortable enough with the new situation to rejoin Terry and Laura in the P-Day effort. She currently kept watch on the wall above Claydol’s Gate, keeping watch with the other members of the Air Brigade.<br/>Echo and Houdini also wouldn’t be present at the Conclave. Varo had had a vision about another copy of the video of Farley’s massacre, and they were put in charge of the mission to erase it. Laura had to admit that she rather had taken part in that mission than attend the Conclave, but Varo had insisted she’d be there. <br/>The first Pokémon to enter the room after her was a massive Druddigon. Laura couldn’t tell if it was her imagination or not, but it felt like the floor trembled whenever he took a step.<br/>   ‘That is the chairman,’ Terry explained. ‘He has to keep the peace during the Conclave and make sure that everybody gets their chance to speak. If all goes well, he doesn’t have much to do. At least, that’s what I’ve been told. This is actually the first Conclave I attend myself. During the last one, I was in Mexico to free Marshall from a Pokémon-cartel. The Conclave before that I wasn’t important enough yet to attend, and all the others happened before I was born.’<br/>Laura closely inspected the Druddigon. Despite his frightening looks, he had eyes that showed wisdom and kindness. Laura had all the faith in the world that this large dragon would be a good chairman for the Conclave.<br/>The next Pokémon that entered were a Tyranitar and an Aggron. As soon as they arrived, Lucario walked to them and gestured to Laura that she had to join them.<br/>   ‘Laura, these are the generals of our army,’ said Varo, who had also come to welcome the two giants. ‘This Tyranitar here is called Dako, and this is Indarron.’ Laura extended her hand to greet them, out of a force of habit, but immediately realized that her hand would probably be crushes by the two strong Pokémon. Dako noticed it and started laughing.<br/>   ‘I know we can seem intimidating, but you don’t have to fear us,’ he said kindly. It was a weird sight, to see a smiling Tyranitar.<br/>   ‘We are simply here for security and information,’ Indarron added. ‘This is politics, not war. We’re here to talk, not to fight.’<br/>   ‘How are you two?’ Lucario asked amicably. It was clear that Varo and Lucario had a long, friendly history with the two generals. The atmosphere was relaxed and informal. It might as well have been a chat between four friends in a bar or restaurant.<br/>   ‘Not great,’ said Indarron. His face got more serious. ‘Our soldiers are getting restless. With all the changes recently, they expected more action.’ Laura realized that those “changes” were her fault. Or actually: Marshall’s fault.<br/>   ‘More and more soldiers resign, desert or switch sides,’ Dako said. ‘The biggest hit was when Kick and Punch sided with Spartacus.’ Lucario and Varo were visibly shook. Laura looked at the four Pokémon, waiting for an explanation.<br/>   ‘Who are Kick and Punch?’ she asked, when none of them said anything.<br/>   ‘Kick and Punch are two lieutenants in the army,’ Indarron said.<br/>   ‘And they’ve also helped us out a time or two,’ Lucario said.<br/>   ‘Kick is a Medicham, Punch is a Gengar,’ Dako explained. ‘They worked incredibly well together. Their minds were linked, making them essentially fight like one. They are amazing soldiers, but sadly they are also impatient. They felt we did too little. They wanted action, they wanted to see the Pokémon take their rightful place in the upper world.’<br/>   ‘That sounds awfully familiar,’ Laura mumbled. Indarron nodded. ‘Exactly why they joined Spartacus.’<br/>   ‘So what exactly does that mean?’ Laura still wasn’t entirely sure what Spartacus’s role in all of this was.<br/>   ‘Spartacus seeks out the Pokémon that want to jumpstart their own P-Day,’ Varo said. ‘He used to be the ambassador to the bug-Pokémon, but when his tone got more and more radical, they forced him to quit. Now he is basically forming his own private army, although he will never say that out loud. We don’t know exactly how humans fit into his image of the future, but I don’t think it’s very positive.’<br/>   ‘Sadly he keeps getting more and more support,’ Lucario said. ‘Good Pokémon of the army, the Squad, the Brigade or the Pack join him, just like many ordinary Pokémon from the city. They’re afraid, they want to be able to live above ground, and Spartacus pretends like he can give them that. That way, he keeps getting more and more support.’<br/>   ‘And now that Kick and Punch have joined him, I’m afraid that support is only going to keep growing,’ Dako sighed.<br/>   ‘Gentlemen, I ask that you save the rest of your conversation for the Conclave,’ the Druddigon interrupted. ‘That would only be fair to the other attendees.’<br/>The Pokémon nodded, and the little group disbanded. Laura rejoined Terry at the side of the room. She liked the generals, and Lucario and Varo seemed like good, decent Pokémon, but she felt more at ease with Terry. The little bear on the other hand, actually seemed nervous.<br/>   ‘I’m not really used to being in charge,’ he explained when Laura asked about it. ‘Marshall was always the leader, Skye and me were there to support him. Now I have to figure it out myself.’<br/>   ‘No you don’t!’ Laura protested. ‘I’m still here! And look around you: Varo, Lucario, the generals, you’ve got enough support here.’ Terry got a bit more at ease, but only a little bit.<br/>   ‘Can you convince the rest of the city of that as well?’ he asked cynically. ‘Marshall was very well-respected, and to denounce him as a traitor won’t go over well. In many ways the city had gotten more dependent on him than on the Pack or the Brigade.’<br/>   ‘We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,’ Laura said, trying to comfort Terry. ‘Let’s get your mind off of him for a moment. How about… how about you tell me how you envision P-Day happening?’<br/>   ‘Well, everything has to happen as peaceful as possible of course. I will form a group of Pokémon that will act as a diplomatic delegation of sorts, to establish contact with the humans. We will talk to them as diplomats, and we will try to work out a form that is best for everybody. That’s also why I prefer to be a Teddiursa over an Ursaring. People are less likely to shoot at a teddy bear than at a grizzly bear. And if that diplomatic approach doesn’t work, we can always go over to plan B. That plan sees us gradually integrating back into the upper world again. We will start with places where they are more likely to accept us, so places with fewer people. The small, cute, innocent looking Pokémon go first, especially the ones that resemble creatures the humans already know. Pokémon such as Deerling and some bird or fish Pokémon. Then we move on to the larger Pokémon, and the most terrifying ones come at the very end, when they have grown accustomed enough to us that they might be willing to accept them too.’<br/>   ‘And what if they don’t?’<br/>   ‘Worst case scenario: they attack us. That’s why Dako and Indarron are here. If the humans do attack, we need to army to step in. Right now, they’re mobilizing and moving them all to Feldspar. Dako and Indarron travelled ahead, but the others should be here in a little while too.’<br/>In the meantime Hunter and Ace had arrived at the meeting room. They went directly to Druddigon.<br/>   ‘The area is secure,’ Hunter said. ‘My Pokémon have checked the surroundings. Everything is clear. My best agents are stationed at the entrance.’<br/>   ‘I have provided escorts,’ Ace said. ‘All the ambassadors are guarded and should arrive shortly.’<br/>Druddigon nodded satisfactory. Hunter and Ace took their seats, after which Lucario, Dako and Indarron followed their example. Varo stayed at the head of the table, alongside Druddigon.<br/>Soon after, the ambassadors started arriving. The first one was a Milotic. She entered the room through the small pond. Laura and Terry had been standing next to it the entire time. When the Milotic emerged, it startled Laura so much she almost kicked Terry away. <br/>   ‘How did you do that?’<br/>   ‘All the lakes in Feldspar City and the surrounding areas are connected to each other,’ Milotic said with a kind smile. ‘It allows us water Pokémon to travel freely.’ Slightly embarrassed, Laura remembered that Marshall had told her something similar already the last time she was in Feldspar. The shook her head: too much had happened in the meantime. <br/>Through the large door now entered other ambassadors as well. On behalf of the fire Pokémon arrived a Magmortar, on behalf of the grass Pokémon a Torterra. An Electivire represented the electric Pokémon, and a Rhyperior was there to represent the rock and ground type Pokémon. <br/>Next to Laura suddenly appeared a Dusknoir out of thin air. Terry and Milotic greeted him friendly. Laura quickly tried to get a reading of the Dusknoir. He was different than the others. All around her, the ambassadors were making small talks with their colleagues or the other attendees, but the Dusknoir was quiet, a little bit timid, as if he felt out of place. The general attitude of the other ambassadors showed they were used to being the center of attention and to taking big decisions, but this Dusknoir didn’t have that. He looked as if he’d rather be anywhere else than here.<br/>   ‘Is everything alright?’ she asked.<br/>   ‘Absolutely not,’ Dusknoir answered. ‘If it were, we wouldn’t be here now would we? Something must be horribly wrong, otherwise they wouldn’t call a Conclave.’<br/>   ‘Is this your first Conclave?’ Laura asked. Despite her being new to the Pokémon world, she felt much more at ease than Dusknoir. The Pokémon nodded. ‘I’ve only recently been named ambassador. Our last ambassador moved to a different city. I’m not used to participating in these kinds of things. I prefer to stay in the background.’<br/>   ‘I know what you mean,’ Laura said. ‘Three months ago I was a simple college student, and now I’m caught up in some big plan of which I’m only a small piece without having any idea what the bigger picture looks like.’<br/>   ‘It doesn’t seem to bother you all that much,’ Dusknoir remarked. Laura suddenly realized that he was right: it didn’t really bother her.<br/>   ‘There is very little I can do about it,’ she said. ‘I’ve tried to walk away from it once, but the world had found a rather direct way to drag me back in. The best course of action for me is to accept it and make the best of it.’ This seemed to somewhat calm Dusknoir down.<br/>   ‘My name is Laura, by the way. What’s your name?’ Terry and Milotic were visibly upset by that question.<br/>   ‘I used to be called Seth,’ Dusknoir said.<br/>   ‘Used to be?’ Laura didn’t understand why the Pokémon were upset with her asking about Dusknoir’s name.<br/>   ‘Ambassadors don’t have a name,’ Terry said. ‘They give up everything from their former life. Since Pokémon usually choose their own name, they can also pick a name that suggests they’re better than others. So when they accept the post, ambassadors renounce their name and history to prevent any appearance of conflict of interest. They basically become their function.’ Laura suddenly realized why Dusknoir had so much trouble with his new job. He practically had to restart his life. <br/>Dusknoir gave her a friendly nod and then went looking for his chair. Hunter joined their little group.<br/>   ‘Lady Milotic,’ he said respectfully. Milotic smiled at him and then swam towards the table. Hunter focused his attention at Laura.<br/>   ‘I see you’ve met our latest ambassador.’<br/>   ‘He seems to struggle a bit,’ Laura said. She felt bad for Dusknoir. ‘Do you think he will manage?’<br/>   ‘It won’t be easy for him,’ Hunter admitted. ‘Most ambassadors have known each other for a while, or have frequent contact with other important Pokémon. For example, I have been working with the ambassadors for a long time now to make sure I always have new recruits for the Pack. Rhyperior was once a soldier in the army under Dako and Indarron, so they go way back. Magmortar and Electivire are almost like brothers. They always have each other’s back, they never go against the other.’<br/>   ‘Skye and I used to train with Torterra in the Elite-Squad back when we were younger,’ Terry said. ‘And everybody knows and respects Milotic.’ Laura looked at the majestic Pokémon, who was just having a friendly chat with Ace.<br/>   ‘But Dusknoir has none of that,’ Hunter said. ‘To be honest, I don’t really know all that much about him. He apparently had a rather troubled childhood, with a very violent father and brother. He doesn’t want to talk about his past from before he came to Feldspar, so it must have been pretty bad.’<br/>   ‘He’s actually one of your strongest advocates, you know,’ Terry said. Laura raised her eyebrows. ‘It’s true. For the past two months, he’s been telling the Pokémon from his embassy that he has the upmost faith in you. He’s been trying to counteract the propaganda from Spartacus as much as possible. He said that any human guided by Marshall must be trustworthy.’<br/>   ‘And that worked?’ Laura asked critically. Her opinion of Marshall had sunken to monumentally low levels in the last day, and she could hardly believe he would her best character witness.<br/>   ‘Oh absolutely,’ Terry said. ‘Like I said before: Marshall’s name is very well respected in this city. I know you hate him right now, but many Pokémon like Dusknoir think very highly of him.’<br/>   ‘Oh man, this is gonna crush him…’ Laura felt even worse for the junior ambassador now. ‘And what about Milotic? She was Marshall’s ambassador right? How does she feel about him?’<br/>   ‘Milotic is perfectly capable of setting aside her personal emotions,’ Terry said. ‘She is seen as one of the most important, most respected Pokémon in the city. Aside from Lucario maybe. But all the important Pokémon, even those who clash with her type-wise, respect her. She can work with everybody, and yet be very imposing at the same time.’<br/>   ‘She is, as far as I know, the only Pokémon that can give Varo orders,’ Hunter grinned. ‘Ace loves having her in the Conclave. She kind of a feminist, so when it comes to it, she’s more likely to side with Milotic than with me, Terry or Varo.’<br/>   ‘So Milotic won’t have any issue with the… news… about Marshall?’ Laura asked.<br/>   ‘Well, she’s not gonna like it,’ Terry said. ‘But she won’t let it affect her professional judgement.’ Hunter asked an unspoken question with his eyes, but Laura and Terry ignored it. Instead, Laura asked about something else she noticed as she looked around the room.<br/>   ‘Are these all the ambassadors?’<br/>   ‘Sadly, yes,’ Hunter said. Beside the six ambassadors she had met or seen earlier, Laura counted only six more.<br/>   ‘Aerodactyl said there were twenty five types of Pokémon. Then why are there only twelve ambassadors?’<br/>   ‘Some ambassadors represent multiple types,’ Hunter explained. ‘Rhyperior for example represents both the rock and the ground Pokémon. Dusknoir is here on behalf of the ghost, psychic and dark types. Some other types have never managed to organize all that well. That’s also the reason why you have never heard of them: they are too scattered and divided, and therefore are not often present in the higher circles of organization. And then there are those who don’t provide an ambassador.<br/>   ‘Why not? Which types are they?’ Laura couldn’t grasp why some types wouldn’t want to send an ambassador. It seemed like one of the most important aspects of running a city. <br/>   ‘There are many responsibilities tied up with ambassadorship,’ Terry said. ‘Aside from the whole abandoning your past thing, you also can’t hold any other function while being ambassador. The steel Pokémon were represented for a long time by Indarron, before he became a general. Then a Klinklang became their ambassador, but he is now one of the main researchers in the Science Pillar, and in charge of the Gyre. They were then led by a Metagross for a while, but he recently also resigned to take a place in the army too. They are still looking for a replacement.’<br/>   ‘It’s not much different with the flying type Pokémon,’ Hunter said. ‘Skye’s father was their ambassador at some point, but he prioritized the Air Brigade. Talon rejected the offer because it would mean he’d have to quit the Elite-Squad. Aerodactyl was offered the post too, but he rejected as well. Since many flying type Pokémon are part of the Air Brigade, Ace somewhat acts as their ambassador, but they don’t have official representation.’<br/>   ‘And then there are the bug Pokémon,’ Terry said. ‘After they fired Spartacus, they have cycled through three different ambassadors in six months’ time.  The first one was a Volcarona, who was suddenly found dead one day. The next one was a Shedinja, who quit after two weeks and was never seen again. Nobody knew why he quit. The third one was a Scolipede, who shortly afterwards died in a fire.’<br/>   ‘We never managed to find out how the fire was started,’ Hunter growled. ‘After all this stuff, the bug Pokémon decided to withdraw from the stage for a while. The general belief is that Spartacus was responsible for all of it, but we sadly can’t prove it.’<br/>Laura let the words of the two Pokémon sink in for a minute. The politics of the Pokémon world didn’t differ all that much from the human politics. Intrigue, bribery, mysterious deaths, it all sounded eerily familiar. A frightful thought suddenly came to her mind.<br/>   ‘So we have the most important Pokémon of Feldspar City here present, right? So if an attack would happen here…’<br/>   ‘Then the city would immediately be without leadership,’ Hunter finished her sentence. ‘The security services of the city would have no leaders, all the ambassadors would be dead, the army would be without its generals. All the commanders are gathered here together.’<br/>   ‘So all it takes is one maniac to cause complete chaos,’ Laura thought out loud.<br/>   ‘Indeed,’ said Hunter. ‘That’s why we invited that maniac in here, so we can keep an eye on him.’ He looked at the door, and Laura followed his look.<br/>Through the door of the meeting room came Spartacus, with his trademark smug, arrogant look on his face. Without greeting even one of the other attendees he took his seat and waited impatiently for the Conclave to start.<br/>   ‘Why is he here?’ Laura asked with her jaws clenched. The last time she saw him, Spartacus had almost sent an angry mob her way, and she didn’t like being in the same room as him again. Terry sighed.<br/>   ‘We sadly can’t deny that he is an important Pokémon around here. He has power and influence, and is the leader of a large group of Pokémon. Whether we like it or not, that gives him the right to be present at the Conclave.’<br/>   ‘It has a security advantage,’ Hunter said. ‘Spartacus is the only Pokémon insane enough to attack us. With him here, we can keep him under close watch. And his followers won’t do anything either, since the risk of harming him is too big.’<br/>Laura suddenly realized that Hunter wasn’t aware of the Darius situation. If he were, Spartacus wouldn’t be his biggest concern. Terry had reached the same conclusion, and gestured to her to keep her mouth shut. Thankfully, Druddigon prevented her from saying anything she shouldn’t.<br/>   ‘Ladies and gentlemen, all those invited are present. I request you all take your seats. It’s time to open the Conclave.’</p>
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<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The monster walked over the steppe. He had left the cold of the cave behind him. the change in environment and the eating of the lynxes made him feel stronger. He had more control over his powers. It was as if his powers had doubled. He could also see his surroundings more clearly than before.<br/>The monster couldn’t remember how long he had been walking, but it started getting dark already. It must have been at least a few hours since he had eaten the lynxes. He also noticed changes in the environment. The grass he was walking on was no longer dry, but greener and fresher. The air was no longer hot and humid, but clean and cool.<br/>He heard sounds coming from somewhere. They weren’t the sounds of the steppe the monster had grown to recognize. These were human sounds. With increased speed, the monster ran towards the sounds. He would finally get his revenge. <br/>Behind a small hill laid a farm. The monster saw an entire herd of sheep grazing around. Easy prey. He needed that: he was getting hungry again. But the sheep weren’t the creatures he was looking for.<br/>From inside the house came a grown man. When he noticed the monster, he started screaming. He ran back inside and came out armed with a gun. The monster approached calmly. He wasn’t afraid of the man.<br/>The man aimed and shot. The bullet hit the monster in his lower abdomen. Without even flinching, he kept walking, straight towards the man. The man shot another five times. All bullets hit the monster. The last one hurt a little bit, but not enough to stop him. There were now just a few more meters between him and the farmer.<br/>From inside the building came two more men, both armed with knives. They were no match for the monster. As soon as they were close enough, he disarmed them with two quick moves. He spit the knives on the ground. The disarmed men were paralyzed with fear for a moment. It was only two seconds, but that was all the monster needed. Before the men could even realize what was happening, they were already lying dead on the ground.<br/>The man with the gun had managed to reload his rifle in the meantime. He aimed the barrel at the monster again, looking for a lethal spot on its body. The monster couldn’t use its legs to disarm the man, nor could he get too close. A gunshot from half a meter away would be deadly, even for him. <br/>He circled around the man and ran into the building, while around him the bullets buried themselves in the wood and stone of the walls. Inside the kitchen he pulled everything from the counter and tables he could find and then waited. The man with the rifle entered the kitchen shortly behind him, slowly walking towards the monster, ready to fire. He aimed at the spot where his last bullet had hit the monster before. Then he pulled the trigger.<br/>The monster had anticipated this. He duck away from the barrel. The bullet hit a metal tray instead, ricocheting off of it to a metal pan and finally landing in the man’s leg. Crying in agony, the man fell to the ground. The monster pushed the rifle away from the man and casually walked outside. The screams and curses from the man sounded from the open door, but the monster didn’t feel the need to finish it just yet.<br/>When he was done with the corpses of the other two men, he started with the sheep. There wasn’t as much meat on them as on the humans, but there were plenty to satisfy his hunger. After that he went back into the kitchen, to the still living man, exiting again a few moments later.<br/>These humans had underestimated him too. Because he couldn’t talk, the humans assumed he was just some dumb animal. He wasn’t. He was much smarter than the humans. And much more dangerous.<br/>The monster ran three steps and then jumped into the air, flying around his location a little bit to scan the surroundings. The next farm wasn’t far away. Hopefully that one housed more people.</p>
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<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Most of the Conclave didn’t interest Laura. The ambassadors discussed ways to keep the food supply at sustainable levels, new ways to maintain contact between different cities, new ways of transport and possible expansion opportunities for the city. Hunter, Ace and Varo actively took part in the discussions, but Lucario, Terry and the generals mostly remained on the background.<br/>Spartacus was very clearly present in the discussions, but not in a positive way. Druddigon had strategically placed him between Hunter and Magmortar, hoping that their very presence would keep Spartacus a little more in check. Despite that, he was constantly obstructing the others. He acted as if everybody in the room was conspiring against him and as if they were disregarding his suggestions beforehand already. Those suggestions usually boiled down to him being given absolute control over Feldspar City. Luckily he hardly got any support from the ambassadors. Especially Electivire and Milotic spoke out against him.<br/>When Spartacus suggested he’d be given his own building on the Central Plaza, which would be bigger than the embassies, all the ambassadors got angry. It even looked like Rhyperior and Magmortar were ready to physically attack him. Druddigon and Milotic were the only reasons things didn’t get more out of hand.<br/>   ‘Listen!’ Electivire yelled. ‘I know he is annoying, he bugs the hell out of me too.’ Electivire ignored the angry look Spartacus sent his way. ‘But we have to be a living example to all the other Pokémon. We are elected representatives of our groups. We are the ones who have to show them the right way to act in situations like this. And above all: we have to remain civilized. Because if we can’t set aside our differences and talk open and honestly to each other, what kind of example does that set for the other Pokémon?’ It got quiet in the room after these words, and everybody settled down again.<br/>   ‘Alright, then onto the next item on the agenda,’ Druddigon said. He gestured to Varo, who started his introductions. Terry started shuffling nervously next to Laura. Laura and Lucario tried to calm him a bit while Varo told the others briefly about Farley, Zoroark, Darius and Marshall. When Varo mentioned the name Darius, Laura heard Lucario gasp for air. Varo and Hunter also got scared looks in their eyes.<br/>   ‘What’s wrong?’ Laura asked. ‘Did I miss something?’<br/>   ‘Spartacus,’ Lucario whispered.<br/>   ‘What? He looks completely normal.’<br/>   ‘Exactly. Look at the others. They’re all afraid, scared, confused. Spartacus has no reaction at all.’ Laura suddenly started to realize what got the Pokémon rattled.<br/>   ‘That means…’<br/>   ‘That means he already knew about it,’ Terry finished her sentence. Laura saw Hunter bracing himself, and Lucario got a more tense stance. If necessary, those two could immediately attack Spartacus.<br/>Varo meanwhile continued without showing any sings that something might be wrong. ‘Marshall has used many Pokémon in his plan, some of whom are present here today. We know what a big hit this is to our city, but we must not let it get us down. It wasn’t my intention at first to actually start a new P-Day, but some Pokémon have prepared so well the past year that we might actually stand a chance this time. Marshall is gone, I don’t know where he is. So his place as the one in charge of P-Day will be taken by his good friend Terry.’<br/>Terry walked forward until he stood at the head of the table. Compared to the others he was incredibly small, but that actually had a positive effect. The others were more focused on the little Pokémon. Rhyperior and Electivire, who were sitting closest to Terry, nodded to him encouragingly.<br/>   ‘Right,’ Terry started. ‘For those who don’t know me, I’m Terry. The past few years, I have prepared alongside Marshall for a new P-Day. I wasn’t aware of his actual plans. As far as I knew, we would lead the liberation effort for the Pokémon. His betrayal hit me hard, something that some of you can probably empathize with. And now Varo has put me in charge of the entire operation. I’ll be honest with you: I have never had a task this important. But I’m confident that with your help, I will be able to complete this to a success.’<br/>Laura noticed that the longer Terry talked, the more confident he got. The Pokémon around the table all looked at him with anticipation, but that didn’t seem to scare him.<br/>   ‘Now, you will all realize how very important this is,’ Terry continued. ‘I won’t be able to do this by myself. That’s why I ask for your support. I would like Pokémon from each of your respective groups to help me in this monumental task, and to also make sure that everybody is well represented.’<br/>Next, Terry outlined the plan he told Laura before, only a little more detailed this time. At the end of his explanation, Dako was the first one to speak up.<br/>   ‘Terry, you know that I would like nothing more than to be able to live among the humans again instead of hiding away beneath the ground. But if it’s true what Varo is saying, and we’re headed for war, then I can’t afford to miss even one soldier.’<br/>Indarron nodded in accordance, and Hunter and Ace had a similar message for Terry: the city’s security came first. The ambassadors seemed to be undecided yet.<br/>   ‘I would like to know what Laura thinks of this,’ Dusknoir said. The others looked at him in surprise: it was the first thing Dusknoir had said during the entire Conclave. Laura didn’t know how to respond immediately.<br/>   ‘What I think of this… I think it’s a good plan?’ She saw that this didn’t exactly convince the ambassadors.<br/>   ‘Look, I have been lied to by Marshall, I know that. But I joined him in the first place for a reason. The idea behind P-Day is a good idea. The Pokémon should be able to live above ground again. But I think there are many people who are incapable of accepting it just yet. Many of them have never even heard of Pokémon. I don’t know how you all got erased out of human memory, and I will probably never know. It doesn’t matter what happened in the past, how the previous P-Day’s turned out. What matters is now, this very moment. And at this very moment, it’s a good idea if the Pokémon and humans sit around a table, much like this one, and talk together. And even though I can’t think of a Pokémon more suited for the task, I also know that Terry can’t do this by himself. So I will help him.’<br/>Laura was surprised by her own determination. She had said those last words in the spur of the moment, but she saw it had effect on her audience. Sadly not all of it positive.<br/>   ‘You are going to help him?’ Spartacus scoffed. ‘And that’s supposed to comfort us? If anything, it should convince us even more that this operation is doomed to fail! How can the interests of the Pokémon be safeguarded by a human? The humans are the very reason we are trapped down here!’<br/>   ‘Then wouldn’t it be nice if it was because of the humans that we could go back up again?’ Milotic asked patiently.<br/>   ‘I agree with Laura,’ Dusknoir said. ‘Terry, if you need my help, you can stop by my embassy. We will talk to the Pokémon there to select some that can help you.’<br/>   ‘You have my support,’ Electivire said.<br/>   ‘And mine,’ Milotic added.<br/>   ‘You’re all insane!’ Spartacus yelled out furiously. ‘Can’t you see the train wreck that this operation is going to be? We can’t trust the humans! And if Terry is too blind to see that, then he isn’t suited to lead this.’<br/>   ‘Easy now Spartacus,’ said Rhyperior. His tone was calm, but warning. ‘You have just insulted three ambassadors and one highly respected Pokémon. That is something that is generally not accepted in this city.’<br/>   ‘It’s not an insult! He is simply not fit to lead the Pokémon.’ Spartacus had now stood up to give his words more gravitas.<br/>   ‘And who would be suited?’ Magmortar asked. ‘You? You couldn’t even lead your own embassy.’<br/>   ‘Well I wouldn’t conspire with the humans!’ Spartacus screamed. ‘Can’t you see that they are our enemies?’<br/>   ‘Let’s not forget that you took your name from one of those humans,’ Torterra said. ‘Apparently that one wasn’t an enemy?’<br/>The other ambassadors now started screaming as well, making the meeting room one big orchestra of noise and angry screaming. Lucario put Terry on his shoulder and grabbed Laura’s arm. While Druddigon and Varo tried to calm the other down, Lucario brought Terry and Laura to one of the side chambers. <br/>   ‘You’re safe here in case a fight breaks out in there,’ he said. ‘When things calm down, I’ll come back to bring you back in.’ He grabbed a torch, lit it on fire in one of the containers and put it in the room. Then he closed the door.<br/>In a corner of the room Laura saw a Diglet disappear in the ground.<br/>   ‘Lucario!’ she yelled, but the Pokémon didn’t hear her.<br/>   ‘Well that can’t be good,’ Terry mumbled.</p>
<p>
  <em>Steel. Most weapons in history are made from it. Bullets, swords, knives, bombs. But besides that it’s also one of the main building materials in the world. Cars and airplanes and mostly made from steel and other metals. Houses have steel reinforcements. Chairs, tables, radiators and many other objects in houses consist for at least a part of steel.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Grass. It feeds animals and provides a home for bugs. With increasingly large cities, there is less and less grass to be found in the world. But when cities are abandoned, nature takes them back and covers them again in grass and foliage. Grass is an essential part of the circle of life. Animals eat the grass, but when they die, their body provides the nutrients for new grass to grow. Grass and other plants work as medicine for ailments, but can also be used as poison. </em>
</p>
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<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Chapter 13</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Reese carefully walked towards his door. Even though he didn’t think Tyson was actually right, he had still gotten a little bit more scared after seeing the schematics. Much to his relief, it was Tyler and Jason in front of his door.<br/>   ‘We need your help,’ Jason immediately said. ‘Or actually, Tyson needs our help.’<br/>   ‘It’s clear that something is wrong with him,’ Tyler said. ‘Since his family is abroad, it’s on us to cure him.’<br/>   ‘And how are we supposed to do that?’ Reese asked. He was too afraid to admit that he considered the possibility that maybe, just maybe, Tyson might be right about some parts of it.<br/>   ‘I looked it up online, and apparently the best thing to do in a situation like this is to do normal stuff,’ Jason said. ‘Stuff that he used to do before… whatever it is that’s wrong with him. So we’re gonna go to a bar, play some cards, help him try to pick up a girl.’<br/>   ‘Play some video games, watch some TV, make him forget all about this conspiracy stuff,’ Tyler added.<br/>Reese nodded. Whether or not Tyson was right, he wasn’t the same person anymore. He needed to remember how his life used to be, even if it was just for one night.<br/>Although Tyson objected at first, the others did manage to convince him. Step by step they managed to get him to follow them, first outside, then into the taxi, then to the bar.<br/>   ‘Oh no, I can’t,’ he said when Reese offered him a beer. ‘My sense and mind have to be as sharp as possible. They can be anywhere. I must be ready to fight them off when they try to take me out.’ Tyler rolled his eyes. Behind them, the barman put on the TV which just showed a news report about a brutal slaughter in Kazakhstan.<br/>   ‘Baby steps,’ Jason said. ‘It’s an accomplishment in and of itself that he’s even gone out of the house.’ Tyler nodded acceptingly and looked around the bar. He gave Tyson a tap on the shoulder.<br/>   ‘See that blonde girl there? Go talk to her, then you’ll remember why it’s good to go outside again.’<br/>Tyson straightened his clothes, put his hands in his pockets so seem casual and walked over to the girl.<br/>   ‘This is all going a lot better than expected,’ said Reese. ‘I was afraid that he would lock himself in his house for the rest of his life, but he is pretty cooperative.’<br/>The girl that Tyson was talking to jumped up, said something unkind and angrily walked to the toilets. Tyson walked back to his friends, a disappointed look on his face.<br/>   ‘What did you say to her?’ Jason asked surprised. Tyson shrugged.<br/>   ‘Nothing strange, just the truth.’<br/>   ‘What truth exactly?’ Reese asked. He started getting a suspicion what Tyson might have said.<br/>   ‘That there’s an organization that controls everybody and that they are tracking her too. But I also told her that I’m probably the only one that could protect her from this organization.’<br/>   ‘Not the best icebreaker,’ Tyler remarked sarcastically.<br/>   ‘Yeah, we’re going to have to work on that,’ Jason added laughing.<br/>From the toilets suddenly sounded a high pitch screech. The guys recognized the voice of the girl that Tyson had been talking to. Along with several other people, they immediately ran to the toilets. Tyler – who was much larger and stronger than the others – threw his entire weight against the door, which flew open without much resistance.<br/>The girl laid on the ground, the faucet in the sink still running. She looked at the window with fright on her face. When she saw Tyson, she pointed at him, trembling.<br/>   ‘It… it asked for you!’ she stammered. Jason and Reese looked at their friend in surprise. Tyson didn’t hesitate for a second, but ran towards the exit, out into the nightly dark. Jason, Tyler and Reese followed him closely.<br/>They didn’t see anything in the dark. They just heard the sounds of the wind and the buzzing of bugs.<br/>   ‘There!’ Reese yelled suddenly. They saw something disappear in the bushes. Broken twigs and moving branches were enough evidence that they weren’t imagining it. Jason, Reese and Tyler ran after it, and disappeared among the trees. Tyson stayed behind all by himself.<br/>   ‘I’m sorry,’ a voice suddenly whispered behind. Tyson almost fell over from the shock. He didn’t dare turn around to see who was talking to him. He didn’t recognize the voice, but it didn’t sound angry or unfriendly. It almost seemed like the voice was afraid and felt guilty.<br/>   ‘I’ve made a mistake,’ the voice said. ‘Listen to your friends, they’re the only ones that can make this right.’ The voice got softer and more quiet, as if it was moving away. When nothing was said for a while, Tyson dared to turn around. Behind him there was nothing to see, aside from the poorly lit café. The others emerged from the trees again.<br/>   ‘Found anything?’ Tyson asked. He had trouble keeping his voice under control. It seemed better to him if his friends wouldn’t know about the strange encounter.<br/>   ‘Nothing,’ Reese said. ‘It’s almost as if we’re chasing ghosts.’</p>
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<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Chapter 14</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Laura was starting to get a little bit claustrophobic in the small chamber. It had been some time since Lucario locked the door. All that time, Terry had kept quiet. The crescent moon on his forehead had started to light up though. Laura didn’t know how or why, and frankly she didn’t care. She had lately learned far too many new things about Pokémon. She was kinda done with the surprises.<br/>
‘So what do we do?’ Laura asked. She was getting more and more worried with every passing minute.<br/>
‘Well we obviously should tell them about that Diglet,’ Terry remarked, unnecessarily.<br/>
‘Do you think he works for Rhyperior?’ Laura asked. Terry shook his head.<br/>
‘I can see how that may seem logical, but not all the Pokémon belong to the personal entourage of the ambassador representing them. Most of them don’t ever see or meet their ambassador. How often have you met the leader of your country for example? No, we have no reason to assume he works for Rhyperior. All we know is: he was spying on the Conclave. We just need to figure out on whose behalf.’<br/>
‘I think we both know who that is,’ Laura remarked cynically.<br/>
‘Maybe, but keep it to yourself for now, just to be sure.’<br/>
The door of the chamber opened again, and Lucario gestured that they could enter the main room again. Terry and Laura took their place at the edge of the room again. Laura noticed a few changes in the table arrangement. Torterra was no longer seated opposite Spartacus, but was put at the other end of the table, far from the Scizor. Ace had taken his seat and kept her eyes strongly focused on Spartacus. Florges and Mienshao showed clear signs of a struggle, and Dragonite and Magmortar had a few scratches too. Laura couldn’t exactly determine who had fought who, but it had clearly not been a friendly discussion.<br/>
Varo, Ace, Hunter and Druddigon kept their sight focused sternly on the others at the table. After all, it was their job to keep the peace in this room. Milotic and Electivire seemed watchful too, prepared for another burst of anger. Electivire was the first one to speak.<br/>
‘Terry, we’ve… uhm… debated, and decided the following. The embassies of Milotic, Dusknoir, Magmortar, Torterra and myself are completely at your disposal. In agreement with us, you can select any Pokémon you want to help you with your task, provided you can convince them yourself. The other embassies won’t allow you to plead your case there, but if you manage to convince Pokémon on your own, they won’t stop you.’<br/>
Indarron took over from him. ‘Concerning the army, the Pack and the Air Brigade: we still can’t provide you any help. We need to make sure this city can stand against Darius when the time comes. I’m sorry my friend.’<br/>
‘And then the Elite-Squad,’ Varo said. ‘We’ll allow you to select three Pokémon from it, provided they can return to Feldspar City whenever I need them.’<br/>
Terry nodded to the Pokémon at the table. ‘Thank you, all of you. This is great, and I’m certain that with the help of your Pokémon, we can bring this mission to a good end. I will keep you all posted, and make sure that you get the proper authority over the decisions that need your approval. I won’t go behind your backs.’<br/>
Druddigon stepped forward again. ‘Very well then. On to the next point…’ He didn’t get the chance to announce what it was. A Ledyba flew through a small crack in the door. The Pokémon wasn’t larger than ten centimeters, but everyone present noticed it.<br/>
‘I thought your security was impeccable,’ Electivire said to Hunter and Ace.<br/>
‘It is!’ Hunter immediately said.<br/>
‘There must be a good reason why this Ledyba was let through,’ Ace said. Despite that, the two Pokémon did exchange a worried look. The Ledyba flew straight to Spartacus and landed on his shoulder.<br/>
‘Spartacus, may I point out that this is highly unusual,’ Milotic said.<br/>
‘I’m aware of that, lady Milotic.’ The word “lady” came out so sarcastic and disrespectful that Laura wanted to punch him straight in the face. ‘But this is an important message. It appears that there was an attack on the grass embassy. I guess our diligent protectors were too busy playing important in here to prevent the attack.’<br/>
‘What happened?’ Torterra asked worried.<br/>
‘There was a fire. It’s not exactly clear what happened, but it looks like it wasn’t an accident.’<br/>
Hunter and Ace jumped up immediately and ordered the door to be opened. Varo and Lucario jumped into action as well. As soon as the door was opened, the four Pokémon ran out, followed closely by Terry and the generals, while Druddigon hastily yelled that the Conclave was postponed until further notice. Torterra ran as fast as his unwieldy body allowed him, while Milotic and Rhyperior began working on an emergency plan to contain as much damage as possible. Spartacus casually walked out, followed by the other ambassadors.<br/>
‘Come on,’ Electivire said to Laura. ‘We have to see if we can help.’<br/>
Spartacus wasn’t kidding when he said it was an attack. The fire had almost destroyed the entire embassy. The beautiful, majestic tree that formed the basis of the building was almost completely charred. The upper floor was gone entirely. The embassies next to it were being protected by ground and rock Pokémon, making protective measures to stop the fire from spreading. Milotic and a number of water Pokémon were already trying to put out the fire. Hunter and Ace tried to keep as many Pokémon away from the fire as possible.<br/>
‘There are still Pokémon inside!’ a Bayleef yelled to Torterra. Terry immediately changed into an Ursaring and ran inside, followed closely by Dako and Rhyperior. Even Lucario – who was partially steel – ran in the burning building. Other Pokémon, spurred on by Electivire and Magmortar, ran after them.<br/>
‘Varo, what’s happening?’ Laura heard Houdini say inside her head. ‘We just got back from the mission. The Unown are going haywire in here!’<br/>
‘Fire in the grass embassy,’ Dusknoir said inside her head. It didn’t surprise Laura that he had telepathy as well. After all, he represented the psychic Pokémon too.<br/>
‘I’ve sent Echo your way with Talon and the triplets. What else do you need?’<br/>
‘Everyone!’ Varo yelled. ‘Things are in bad shape here. We need to put everybody on this that we can spare. What are the Unown saying?’<br/>
‘It’s difficult to make something out of it,’ Houdini answered. ‘There are many different words here, too many. And they’re changing almost every second. Grass, Torterra, embassy, Spartacus, Diglet, and “fire” pops up a lot. Oh, and…’ Houdini’s voice stopped mid-sentence. ‘Varo, they’re giving the name Darius!’<br/>
Terry and the others came running out of the building, carrying various grass Pokémon in their arms. They put them in the lake of the water embassy, giving them a chance to recover.<br/>
Spartacus had somehow managed to get something to stand on and was towering over the others in the middle of the plaza. Behind him raged the fires of the embassy, creating a very ominous visual.<br/>
‘This should have never happened!’ he cried out. ‘We have Pokémon that are supposed to prevent this! Our guardians, Hunter and Ace, they are responsible for our safety. They should be protecting us against this very situation!’ Some Pokémon on the plaza started to mumble in agreement. Hunter and Ace themselves were too busy to be concerned with Spartacus. So instead, the Scizor pointed at Electivire and Rhyperior.<br/>
‘And then there are our “elected representatives”. Tell me, when was the last time they actually listened to you? How often have they actually worked for you? Some of you don’t even have an ambassador!’<br/>
The Pokémon started to respond louder now. It was clear that Spartacus was getting through to them. He pointed his pincer at Varo next.<br/>
‘And look who we have here! For those of you who don’t know him: this is Varo, and he thinks himself the leader of this city. All the important Pokémon listen to him, as if they’re his lap-Snubbull. He practically holds all the power around here, and yet still he can’t prevent disasters like this. And let us not forget, that all these problems began when the human standing next to him was let into our city!’<br/>
Before Spartacus could spout any more hatred, Hunter jumped between him and Laura and Varo.<br/>
‘That is bullshit and you know it!’ he growled. ‘You were fired before she even knew we existed. The problems we discussed in the Conclave today have been issues for years! And the three ambassadors to the bug Pokémon, who all three suddenly were unable to do their duties? Were they her fault as well? This fire is the second one in less than a year that has no clear cause, but can be linked back to you.’<br/>
‘Are you accusing me of arson?’ Spartacus asked. He acted as if everybody was against him, and like he was the only one who knew the answers. Laura hated those people – and Pokémon. ‘Do I have to remind you Hunter, that I was in the Conclave with you? How could I have possibly done this?’<br/>
‘You command your own private army of Pokémon that carry out your every order,’ Hunter growled. He still stood in a very threatening stance, ready to charge at Spartacus at any moment. ‘There are plenty of Pokémon in your little group that are capable of starting a fire here. And let’s not forget that you were the first one at the Conclave to hear of the fire. Not Varo, not Torterra, not Ace, not me, but you!’<br/>
‘Maybe my Pokémon are just better than yours,’ Spartacus said taunting. With an angry bark Hunter jumped towards Spartacus. He didn’t attack him, but kept his head roughly twenty centimeter from Spartacus’s. Small plumes of smoke came from the corners of his mouth.<br/>
‘I know you did this,’ he whispered. Around Spartacus the members of the Pack started to gather. Along with Ace, Varo, Terry, Lucario and the generals, they started to form a circle around Spartacus.<br/>
‘I will keep watching you,’ Hunter continued. ‘And not just me, but every member of the Pack will be on your heels, day and night, for the rest of your life. You won’t get a moment alone, until we can prove that you are behind this. Then we will arrest you, and you won’t be able to harm anybody ever again.’<br/>
‘You won’t be able to keep that up,’ Spartacus said. His arrogant attitude had made way for a light fear. The Pokémon on the plaza started to notice it. They were no longer on his side. Some of them left, others started to cheer Hunter on, but most of them just stood in absolute silence watching the confrontation at the center of the plaza. All of them seemed to have forgotten that Milotic and the fire brigade were still trying to control the flames.<br/>
‘Maybe not, but you will break before I do,’ Hunter said. ‘But I’ve got a better offer: leave this city. Now. And don’t ever return. Then we will leave you alone.’<br/>
‘You’re making a big mistake here,’ Spartacus hissed.<br/>
‘Why?’ Varo yelled. ‘Will you go running back to Darius if we kick you out? He won’t be happy that you’ve got banished.’ The ordinary Pokémon didn’t understand this remark, but they did see that it scared Spartacus. And that was enough for them. Those who still supported Spartacus quickly changed sides. Others started to chant at him to get out, and in no time an angry mob had formed at the plaza.<br/>
The Scizor stood motionless for a few moments, thinking about his next move. But when some rock Pokémon from the crowd started to create little pebbles that they threw at Spartacus, the decision was easily made. He flew up, where he was immediately covered by Ace and a few members of the Air Brigade. They kept flying in formation around him, until he had left the city. After that they turned back around, while Spartacus kept flying. Laura could still see him for a little while, until he disappeared in the darkness of the caverns. Some part of him actually felt a little sorry for him.<br/>
‘There’s no need to feel bad for him,’ Dusknoir said to her. She looked at him in surprise. ‘I can read emotions,’ he explained. ‘If Varo is right and Spartacus works for Darius, then he was a hazard to everybody in this city. And let’s not forget that you personally are a lot safer now. I was afraid for a moment that he would attack you right here.’<br/>
Laura couldn’t deny that Dusknoir was right, but she still didn’t like how all of this had gone down. At that moment, Echo arrived with Talon and the triplets. Varo immediately gave them instructions and they got down to damage control. Varo then walked over to Laura.<br/>
‘It looks like Milotic has got this covered. Come with me, I want to show you something.’ Together they walked through Feldspar. Varo didn’t say anything, and Laura was fine with that. Too much had happened. She could use some peace and quiet.<br/>
Varo stopped at the edge of the city in front of a relatively large building. Unlike most other buildings in Feldspar City, this one had a wooden door. Varo gestured to Laura to open it. Inside, Laura saw it was decorated as a house. A human house, with paint and furniture that wasn’t all made from stone.<br/>
‘I know it’s less than you’re used to, but I hope this will keep you covered for a while,’ Varo said. ‘Terry, and sometimes Skye, will live in the house next door. Starting tomorrow, Ace and Hunter will put a security detail here to keep you safe.’ He saw Laura was trying to hide a yawn and smiled kindly. ‘Well, you go ahead and explore your new house. Everything concerning your upper world house will be taken care of by us. If there’s anything else, just let me know.’<br/>
Varo walked out of the door and closed it behind him. Laura decided to safe the house exploring for another day. She first went looking for the bedroom. She checked if the bed actually had a mattress on it and then let herself fall down on the bed. She almost immediately fell asleep.</p><p>Houdini focused harder than ever before, but the thoughts of the Unown were impossible to read. They were too many. It was impossible to filter out one.<br/>
Frowning, he stared at the word the Unown were forming on the table in front of him.<br/>
‘What are you trying to tell me?’ he asked irritated. ‘What do I do with this? How do you know all of this?!’<br/>
That last question provoked an immediate response from the Unown. All the Unown in the chamber banded together and started to create a figure. It was difficult to make something out of it, but it looked like a face. One that Houdini didn’t recognize.<br/>
‘Do I have to look for him?’ he asked. Three Unown came down and formed the word “yes”.<br/>
‘Who is this?’ Houdini asked. As he had expected, the Unown didn’t reply. ‘How can I find him?’<br/>
The Unown broke up the figure started forming words again. Houdini looked at the names that appeared.<br/>
‘Are they supposed to help me?’ Again, no answer from the Unown. ‘For the love of Arceus, be clear with me!’ Houdini screamed. ‘What do you want me to do?’<br/>
Four Unown came down and formed the word “Varo”. Six others came down and spelled “secret”. Then they flew up again and started flying in the circular rotation that they always followed. Almost directly afterwards, Varo entered the room.<br/>
‘Any luck?’ he asked. Houdini shook his head.<br/>
‘I can’t make heads or tails from it. Their thoughts are just too many. If you don’t mind, I’m going to get some rest now. You’ll get a mission briefing in the morning.’ Varo gave him a short nod and Houdini walked out. It seemed best to not tell Varo of the things he had seen in the Oracle Chamber.</p>
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<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Chapter 15</h2></a>
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    <p>The humans looked like such easy prey from the air. The monster had a true feast in this area. Every now and then he dove down towards a farm that had enough humans and animals to still his hunger. Sometimes he even went down to a farm if he wasn’t hungry, just to unleash his wrath upon the humans.<br/>One time only he had stumbled upon a small village. The humans had been terrified. Some of them had even pulled out weapons to fight him. The monster could have easily defeated them, but he didn’t want to bother himself with the effort it would take. <br/>He mostly stayed away from the roads. It would be best not to run into too many humans just yet. He had to leave as few witnesses behind as possible, otherwise the army would be after him in no time. <br/>In front of his eyes appeared another village. The monster sighed irritated. He couldn’t afford to attack a village. The odds were too big that somebody would survive it, or that somebody would actually have weapons strong enough to hurt him. He wanted to divert to the right, but he saw another village appear on the horizon there. The same was the case at his left. Turning around wasn’t an option either, the humans would most likely be inspecting his earlier work there. It would cause nothing but trouble if the monster would appear in the middle of their investigation.<br/>Angry at himself for not preventing this, the monster flew into the smallest village. A few people had seen him approach already. They yelled warnings at each other. With a few quick bites, the monster silenced two of them. He closed his eyes, concentrated and spewed out a fiery blaze at the group of people that came running towards him. With his tail he broke a supporting beam, causing a weak construction next to him to collapse. The humans cried out a word. Zilant. The monster knew that word. It was the name of one of the many dragons from the local myths. <br/>It didn’t take long for him to dispatch of the humans and destroy most of the village. He flew a little bit outside of the village and landed in a field to catch his breath a little bit. Despite being stronger than ever before, it still took quite some energy to take out an entire village.<br/>Suddenly he smelled a familiar scent. It smelled like a creature like him. He quickly jumped up and hovered in the air, trying to determine where the scent was coming from.<br/>A purple flash rammed him out of the air. The monster plummeted down, but managed to pull up just in time so that he didn’t hit the ground. His opponent appeared behind him. Instead of attacking, the monster flew up higher, making his enemy hit nothing but air. <br/>   ‘You’ll have to try harder if you want to defeat me!’ the monster screamed. Much to his surprise, he found out he could suddenly talk. <br/>   ‘Consider that a present from me,’ a voice inside his head said. The monster dove down to get a better look at his opponent. On the ground stood a large Garchomp waiting for him. When the monster had almost reached him, the Garchomp struck at him. <br/>The monster had expected as much. He turned sideways, soaring closely past the Garchomp, and hit him with his tail. Because of the speed of the monster, the hit blew the Garchomp back a few meters. The monster landed and bowed over the Garchomp, who was laying on the ground. Instead of tending to his wounds, the Garchomp started laughing.<br/>   ‘What’s so funny?’ the monster asked. He couldn’t see any humor in the situation.<br/>   ‘I was told you were a good fighter,’ the Garchomp said. ‘My name is Farley. I didn’t come here to kill you, but to test you. I know somebody who is interested in your skillset.’<br/>   ‘Who? Do you work for the humans?’ The monster was disgusted at the very thought. <br/>   ‘Quite the opposite. I’m talking about the one who made it possible for you to speak. And he wants you to go with him.’<br/>   ‘And why would I do that? What’s stopping me from just killing you right here right now and flying away?’<br/>   ‘Well first of all, because he would find you wherever you would go,’ Farley said with an ice cold smile. ‘And secondly, I can promise you that if you go with us, you can take your vengeance. Not just on that skipper and his people. I’m talking about all people. Join us, and you can kill as many humans as you want.’<br/>The monster thought about the offer for a moment. He looked at the burning village behind Farley. If he was telling the truth, the monster would be able to destroy entire cities without fear of repercussions.<br/>   ‘Fine,’ he said to Farley. ‘I’ll go with you. So what should I call your boss?’ Before Farley had even said anything, the monster knew the name. It was as if it was implanted directly into his mind.<br/>   ‘Darius,’ Farley said. ‘And have you thought of your own name? We can’t really keep calling you Hydreigon or Monster.’<br/>   ‘The humans said something before,’ the Hydreigon though out loud. ‘They were talking about Zilant, a dragon from their mythology.’<br/>   ‘Alright then,’ Farley said. ‘Welcome to the team, Zilant.’</p>
<p>Varo opened his eyes. The Unown in front of him spelled the words Hydreigon, Zilant and Farley.<br/>   ‘So Darius has a new weapon,’ he mumbled. He didn’t get much time to think about it. The Unown started moving again. Varo looked at the words they made. He closed his eyes and received his next vision.</p>
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  <em>Dragons. They have played a central role in human mythology for millennia. The largest treasures in the world were supposedly guarded by dragons. Knights and heroes had to prove themselves by defeating dragons. According to legend, dragons had defeated entire kingdoms and destroyed cities. Even now, dragons form a central theme in books, movies and TV shows. Dragons are seen as some of the most horrible monsters in the history of literature.</em>
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  <em>Fairies. While the name sounds innocent and friendly, these creatures were supposed to master powerful magic. According to many stories, there were only few beings able to control the same level of magic. There are legends of fairies constraining entire civilizations with their might. They could make humans, building, animals and cities disappear in a flash. They could manipulate matter itself, influence the weather and control the most powerful rulers.</em>
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<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Chapter 16</h2></a>
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    <p>
  <em>Ghosts. Many people believe that they exist in some form, but nobody knows certain how and if they exist. According to many religions, every human has an immortal ghost that continues living after the body dies. Ghosts are supposed to be able to take control of objects or people and try to communicate with the living in that way.</em>
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  <em>Dark. Probably the biggest fear of children. Nobody knows what hides in the dark. The dark creates uncertainty, and fear of the unknown. Many bugs and predators use the darkness to hide from their prey. The darkness symbolizes nothingness.</em>
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  <em>Psychic. Some people claim to have psychic powers. They claim to be able to talk to the dead and read minds. Psychic powers are a favorite for superheroes. Mindreading, telekinesis, mind control, all things that are popular in comics and movies as powers for superheroes – and supervillains.</em>
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  <em>At the heart of all this are the Pokémon. They learn something from one or more of these domains. They band together, help each other, form groups, teams, cities, civilizations. They live under the ground, hidden away from the humans. The humans fail to understand that the Pokémon have as much right to the earth as the humans do. It is time for the Pokémon to return to the world. And they need your help with that.</em>
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<p>Without knowing it, the men looked up at the same time. They hadn’t talked it over. They didn’t even know the other existed. During the entire story they had kept their eyes closed. The words they had heard were accompanied by images. They had seen tsunami’s, earthquakes, dragons, inferno’s, and most of all: Pokémon.<br/>The first man stood up. ‘Tell me what to do, and I will do it,’ he said determined.<br/>   <em>‘I knew you would,’</em> the voice said. He gave him brief instructions on where to go. The man nodded – even though he couldn’t see the owner of the voice – and left his house.<br/>The second man hesitated for a little longer. ‘I don’t know how I can help,’ he said.<br/>   <em>‘I will take care of that,’</em> the voice said.<br/>The door to his room opened. Two Pokémon, a small blue one and a large red one, entered through it.<br/>   <em>‘These are Spartacus and Marshall,’</em> the voice said. <em>‘They will train you and make sure you will be ready for the task I have in mind for you. Can I count on your support?’</em><br/>The man nodded. ‘Yes you can, Darius.’</p>
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